Mission Fallen Angel
by Mandy Spades
Summary: Max had been stuck in the school all 16 years of her life, and escaping forces her to leave her friends behind. 6 months later, with the help of the CSM she starts looking for her friends, rescuing mutants along the way. Meanwhile, Itex recruits 16 year old Fang to their ranks, under the false guise of another CSM, he's assigned Mission Fallen Angel. Full Summary Inside. Fax-Eggy
1. Chapter 1

**FULL SUMMARY:**  
**Max has been been brought up inside the school all sixteen years of her life. Her only view of the outside world comes from Jeb's stories, and the video clips the white coats show to the mutants during testing. She's the oldest experiment Itex have, so between her and Jeb, she takes on the responsibility of protecting her 'flock' from Itex, whatever hell that may entail.**  
**Max's flock, though not all avian, are her responsibility to protect, especially as they're all each other has in that small room at the school. It's not easy, but even fifteen year old Iggy, Star, Kate, Ratchet, and Holden, help Max look after the younger flock members; afterall, seven year old bird kid Wren, and human Ari (kept as the human control subject for the group) are as vulnerable as they come.**  
**After years of attempting to escape from the school Max finally manages to break free, crash landing alone in the Martinez's back garden.  
Luckily for her, the Martinez's are the founders of the CSM, a government funded program to stop the atrocities of Itex. With their help, Max scours Itex branches all over the state, desperately looking for the flock and rescuing any other mutants she finds along the way.**  
**Meanwhile, in her absence, Itex had been building project 'Fallen Angel' searching for her, their oldest and most important experiment. When the Eraser's blunt attacks don't work and she avades capture the whitecoats take the advice of a former white coat and recruit a human to do the job more stealthily. Under the name of the Institute for Higher Living, and while posing as a government friendly spy school, Itex start training Nick Walker, otherwise known as Fang.**  
**When Maximum Ride herself walks into Fang's high school, Fang finds himself on his first challenging mission; becoming friends with the mysterious girl in order to find out what she knows about Itex. According to his mission breif, if the institute had that information they could 'help take it down'...**

**Fax&amp;Eggy**  
**Minor OC  
**

**If you read till the end of the chapter and don't think it was worth it, then you might learn something thanks to the factoid at the bottom - so it hopefully wasn't a complete waste of time :L**

**Hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 1:  
Fight, Flight, and Far Too Much Real Life for A Simple Bird-Kid

MAX POV

The door banged open, ricocheting off the white wall. Light from the corridor outside flooded the room.

I could hear every mutant shuffling backwards in their crates. Pushing myself up a little I sheilded my eyes, squinting at the figure in the doorway. I couldn't walk all that well after the stamina test they'd put me through this morning, yet my white coat, Dr Hagen, stood in the doorway - leaning heavily on the doorframe, presumably looking for me.

He loped over the threshold, zombie-like, and through the antiseptic stained air I caught the stench of alochol on his breath. I clenched my fists, trying to ready myself as hagen staggered over to the wall lined with kids in crates. He peered through the bars, leering at various kids, trying to find my outline and the label that read 'Subject 1'.

Using the bars to pull himself along, Hagen passed Star, Ratchet, Holden, Kate, little Ari, and Iggy, but stopped just short of my crate, rattling the bars of Wren's crate triumphantly.

He must've been really drunk if he thought Wren was me.

I mean it was Hagen who was put in charge of sorting out my 'attitude', he ought to know what my shivering outline looks like - drunk or not, his oblivion was a little offensive. Granted, in the darkness, and without raptor vision, it'd be difficult to work out that Wren's wings were chestnut coloured, feathers stood on end in fear. Still, even Hagen should be able to see that, unlike my shorter wavy hair, Wren's sheet of lank brown was much longer, and fell in front of her wide eyes.

I could hear her breathing shakily as Hagen began fumbling for his keys, picking the key to my crate and trying to shove it into Wren's padlock. He cursed as the key refused to turn, rattling the padlock around and turning on his heel, staggering over to the button to summon Erasers.

If they came to break Wren's crate open, not only would she suffer more cruel tests at Hagen's hand, but to get her crate open by brute force, the Erasers certainly wouldn't care about her being inside while they bent and broke the bars by any means necessary.

Without much of a voice to use what with being so dehydrated, and not strong enough to topple my crate by throwing my weight against its walls, I pushed myself towards the back and kicked out at the barred door, making it rattle loudly. Hagen stopped, turning. As I kicked at the bars again, yelling as best as I could to get his attention, he seemed to realise his mistake.

I heaved myself upright as he came stumbling over, the key to my crate raised. He fell against the barred door, my heart thrumming uncomfortably as he stabbed the key at my padlock, turning it smoothly and grinning at the 'click' it gave at being unlocked.

I was still weak from the stamina test, not to mention dizzy with hunger, but if it was between me and Wren, it damn sure wasn't going to be her suffering from his psycho plans.

Hagen wriggled the padlock free and I braced myself, repeating Jeb's words to myself and trying to stay calm as the door swung wide.

Before Hagen could grab me I threw myself at him, using his drunken state to tackle him the the ground. Hagen took the brunt of the blow, falling spread eagled on the floor, his head cracking into the plastic coated concrete with a sickening sound. I swung a right hook at his jaw, and though it was probably only as strong as your average human's punch, the second blow to his head seemed to knock him fully unconcious - if the floor and alcohol hadn't done it already.

I stood up shaking, barely aware of the dull throb in my head. I did it. I actually did it.

I grabbed Hagen's dropped keys, a giddy feeling ballooning in my chest as I staggered over to Wren's crate.

Shaking from a mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion, I slotted the key marked 'Subject 23' into her pad locked door. With a click I pulled the key out, tugging the padlock free of the catch, Wren opening the door before I could and throwing herself at me in a hug, arms wrapped tightly around my waist. She was shaking with fear, muttering thank you's as she grabbed fistfulls of the back of my hospital gown, clinging on desperately. I curled her hair behind her ears but gently tried to push her away - we could all hug and cry once we were out, right now I needed to unlock Iggy's crate.

She fell back reluctantly, one hand still clinging to my hospital gown as I found the key marked 'Subject 3'.

I stumbled over to Iggy, unlocking his crate and pulling the door wide, reaching inside to grasp his hand, tapping the back of it twice to let him know it was safe.

Iggy had come back a few days ago blindfolded by bandages, the white coats having decided to fiddle around with his eyes. Jeb had taught us a series of hand signs to use, in case with couldn't talk in front of the white coats, and it sure came in useful, but I really hoped Iggy wouldn't have to rely on them after the bandages came off.

He gripped my hand tightly, pulling himself through the door, and I passed his hand over for Wren to hold as I went to the next crate along. I tried to smile at Ari through the bars, even though he might not see it with his human vision,

"Let's get you out of here." Ari's blue eyes shone out from behind the bars as I rammed one of Hagen's keys into the lock.

It wouldn't fit.

Of course it didn't. Hagen had the avian hybrid's keys with him; and out of the eight of us here, only Wren, Iggy, and I had wings. I'd make it fit, I had to, we would escape all together or not at all...

"...Max" Ari whispered, staring gloomily at me, "…they're not gonna work." I didn't look at him, too busy ramming the second key at the padlock's keyhole.

"Don't worry baby brother," I reassured him, "I hang on…"

Giving up on the second I tried the third key, then fourth, ignoring their labels of 'office' and 'observation room'. Neither of them would fit in the keyhole, let alone turn. I threw them away in frustration, spinning around and staggering over to the tray of spare surgical tools in the corner. They didn't have any lock picking tools, but there had to be something I could use...

"You need to get out of here." Ari protested, watching as I picked out the best tools avaliable, stumbling back to his crate. I just about managed a nervous grin,

"I know sweetie, and I will. We'll all get out of here as soon as we get your doors open - then I'll fly you off into the sunset, just like in that film we watched last week..." I slotted the first metal instrument in, wiggling it around and muttering, "just like I promised." It took a few tries to jam both the implements into the lock, but try as I might nothign clicked.

"…Com'on!" I muttered desperately, a blunt ache blossoming through my legs as Ari poked his fingers through the bars,

"Max, Erasers are gonna be here any minute - they'll have seen you on the surveillance cameras..." My headache gave a particularly painful throb as I turned around, looking at Wren and Iggy, my voice almost giving out as I tried to speak again,

"Ari's right - they'll be here soon. Wren, I need you to take Iggy and get going - he'll need your help to escape." Wren looked horrified, her bottom lip quivering,

"But-"

"I've got to get the others out," I said shakily, standing up and hurrying over to her, squeezing her shoulders encouragingly,

"I promise, I'll be right behind you." Wren's eyes glazed over wetly and I gave her a serious look, "Just do what Jeb said - take the first door on your right, go down the hall to the emergency stair case - from there you can get out, and do a U&amp;A. Three miles West I'll meet you in the nearest clearing." Wren looked like she wanted to protest but I gave her a small kiss on the forehead, thumbs smoothing over her temples as I held her face in my hands,

"Sweetie I need you to help Iggy, he can't get out by himself - and I've got to get the others out. You can do this, I believe in you." Wren hesitated a second but gave me a watery nod, backing away with difficulty and tapping the back of Iggy's hand twice to signal that they were off. I watched for a second as they broke into a run, Wren leading Iggy by the hand, Iggy looking back blindly over his shoulder in my direction.

"Holden?" Ari half shouted, "tell her I'm right!"

Holden didn't say anything, though that wasn't exactly out of character for him. He barely spoke normally, and being nearer my age he knew as well as I did, that I might as well be trying to open their crates with mmy bare hands for all the good my pick locking was doing. Nevertheless I wobbled back over to my make-shift tools, Kate speaking in an urgent voice as I wriggled the instruments around,

"Max, if you don't go now, you'll never get out - go and get help or something!" I scowled, knowing she was right. But my heart tore itself in half at the thought of leaving any of them here.

The fire alarm went off as Wren opened the emergency exit door. I flinched in surprise, knocking the lock pick loose and sending both the metal implements clattering to the floor. The sprinklers came on and goose bumps rippled down my back as panic began to set in. I looked around at them all, searching for some kind of plan.

I looked after them, I was the one who took the beatings to keep them safe - at the very least it should be me staying behind so all of them could escape. After all I was the oldest, it was my responsibility as the leader of my flock. But Wren was waiting for me, and with Iggy in his condition, they couldn't look after themselves...

"MAX GO!" Star snapped anxiously, shouts and snarls floating down the corridor outside. I looked around at them all, one last time, lingering on Ari,

"I'll be back...I'll bring help, I- I promise..."

And before it was too late I broke into a run, my bare feet slapping against the concrete as I ran from the room.

"There!" yelled a white coat, pointing at me from the end of the corridor. He was at least 50 meters away, ordering three Erasers to morph out. They fell to all fours mid-transformation, galloping towards me with their yellow teeth bared. I sprinted through the first door on my right, racing along the new hallway with the sound of snarling on my heels.

I shouldered my way through the fire exit door, still ajar from Wren and Iggy's escape. Leaping up the stairs four at a time, I used my wings to climb faster, focusing on the light above me that filtered in through the open door to freedom.

Trying to ignore the pain in my chest from breathing so hard, I reached the final flight, the dogs following me up the countless dizzying flights. As I reached the final step a fist collided into the square of my back, and knocking the wind out of me as I collided with the door leading out.

I landed hard on the other side, rolling to avoid them pouncing on me, the concrete scuffing my knees and elbows. I scrambled up, only just manging to throw my arms up in time to deflect the claws that slashed at my face. Adrenaline blocked the painful sting of his claws gouging cuts into my forearms, and I kicked out as the Eraser lunged at me.

I may as well have patted him on the head for all the good it did. After this morning's test my strength had dipped below the level of a human, and he easily knocked my leg aide and threw a punch into my stomach that sent me stumbling back and falling to the ground. After the ordeal this morning even adrenaline couldn't block out that much pain, and I screwed up my watering eyes for a moment, an ache hooking into my muscles as pain curled up tightly, lodging in my stomach.

I heard several wolfish whines and many heavy thuds, and in an effort to try and limit damage from their follow up attacks I wrenched open my eyes, blinking back tears. I couldn't quite believe what I saw.

The entire pack had dropped to the floor, a mess of smelly limp limbs, unmoving, like someone had just hit their power buttons. One hand clutching my stomach I got to my feet, stooping a little but spotting the bar codes on the backs of their necks. They all went out of date at the same time? The School was never that sloppy?!

My raptor hearing picked up more barking from the stairwell.

I didn't have time to think, I had to move.

Straightening up a little more, my stomach burning with pain, I forced myself into a run - heading for the stairs set into the far wall. At the top I pushed through the already open door, hearing the sound of more Erasers bursting into the room below, that sickening sound of claws on the concrete like nails on chalk-board. My vision swayed, fazing out for a second.I shook my head roughly - I can't pass out now.

In a bid to run faster I almost accidentally turned on hyper-speed, just about mangaging to keep myself in check as I ran towards the door at the end of this new dark corridor. Snarling dogs were clattering down the hallway behind me, but I knew by the daylight filtering through the door ahead of me that freedom was 20ft away.

I shook out my wings, ready, shouldering open the door and jumping into the air, flicking into hyper speed in one painful wingbeat, almost choking as I inhaled my first breath of fresh air.

It was like a fish taking to water; the air filtering all the muck out of my lungs, even clearing my vision a little as I rocketed through the early morning sky, not looking back, flying away from the sun - West, towards Wren and Iggy.

The water from Itex's fire sprinklers began to freeze my hospital gown to my skin, the 200mph winds and high altitude chillling me to the bone with only thin cotton and wet feathers covering me. I slipped out of hyper speed, no longer able to keep it up - exhaustion and hunger were really starting to take their toll.

I began dropping in altitude, far too fast for comfort, and black dots started appearing in my vision as the world spun gently. I could almost feel what was left of my energy leaking out into the air around me.

Oh crap.

I only managed to cling to consciousness every few seconds but I knew I was falling, knew that the very sharp roofed suburbia was getting closer and closer. A wave of sleep pushed up darkly from my chest, tiredness weighing on my eyes as I tried to slow my fall.

I couldn't just fall to my death after all this. After finally escaping, after having to leave five members of my flock in hell, I was not going to leave the other two out, alone in this new world. Both parties needed my help.

I did the best I could, lowering my predicament from certain death to many broken bones, and like a bird hitting a window I collided with the roof of someone's house. I heard either bones or tiles crack, pain shooting through my shoulder as I rolled off the roof, falling 20ft to the ground and landing with a choaked shreik on a dislocating and/or broken shoulder.

Whimpering in pain I shimmied over onto my front, lying on green grass, feeling every bruise that would blossom purple in a matter of hours. I felt something die in the pit of my chest, tiredness washing over me again, warmly pulling me down, my eyelids no longer strong enough to stay open. I'd failed...

6 Months Later...  
Max POV

I sat bolt upright, breathless and staring around. I was in my bedroom, top floor of the Martinez's house, 4am daylight pouring in through the open window. Screwing up my eyes, I rubbed away the moisture with my knuckles, pushing behind my ears. Feeling shaky from yet another nightmare, I shivered a little in the cold morning breeze, taking a few deep breaths.

It was always a bit of a shock waking up in saftey. A feeling I knew my flock had never had.

I got to my feet groggily, my chest tight like it was trying to squeeze my heart into a calmer rhythm. Stretching my wings through the slits in the back of my pajamas I padded across my room, quietly opening the door and crossing the hallway. Trudging into the bathroom I locked the door behind me, opening the opaque window despite the goosebumps on my arms.

Though it'd been six months since I'd crash landed in the Martinez's back garden, and though they'd done everything to help me feel safe, being in a room with only one exit route still made me nervous.

Dr M had patched me up after the fall, though it'd been several weeks before I'd regained conciousness. With more luck then I'd thought was possible (for people like me) I'd somehow picked to crash land in local vet's back garden.

She managed to find and set every fracture and broken bone (some in my wings, some in my body) and as much as I hate to admit it I was glad I was outcold at the time. If I'd been awake, though I'd probably only be able to paw loosley in protest instead of fight properly, I'd probably have still made every and any injury worse by moving around. Dr M told me I was almost kicking down death's door when they found me. I mean sure, though I was still weak from not reaching my bird-kid calorie count in a while, I managed to rip out the IV that saved my life, but what can I say - old habits die hard.

Despite what I expected, when Dr M, her husband Rob, and their kid Ella came rushing in, none of them seemed all that freaked out by the huge wings I was flailing around, trying to keep my balence as I stood, leaning heavily on the bed. I passed out from over-exerting myself, and when I woke up it was to Rob sitting at my bedside, offering me food. Not wanting to pass out yet again I took it, and while I was eating Rob took the chance to explain some things.

I suppose, to make up for the rest of my life, luck felt like giving me more than one cool freebes, because alongside a vet, I'd also picked to crash land in the garden of the CSM's head honcho.

Still weak from my close call with the reaper, and wolfing down a second plate of Dr M's cooking, I let Rob speak. He told me all about how the CSM had been trying to take down Itex for years, though without much luck - enter me, stage right, face down i the grass like the angel of information they'd been praying for. I didn't volunteer straight away (still having some good ol' trust issues with just about any adult that approached me) but as they continued to help me get back to fighting strength, giving me as much food as I could ask for, I slowly started to let at least a little of my gaurd down.

When I told them about other mutants escaping with me, Rob helped me start pulling together a plan of action. Once I was well enough to walk, CSM's private soldiers helped me search every clearing West of here for 50 miles - Rob even swung a 'no weapons' protocol, which apart from making me feel more comfortable, would hopefully mean we wouldn't scare them off.

Weeks passed and we found nothing.

Thinking they might've been taken back to the school, Rob asked if we could redirect the CSM's resources - treating me like I was the head of operations instead of him. Since it looked like Iggy and Wren were back at the school with the rest of the flock, I agreed - at the very least, I could keep my promise and rescue them, bringing with me some help and undoubtedly (if Erasers were involved) some heavy fire power.

But this brought up a problem; I couldn't remember where the school was. All I had to go on was that it was somewhere East of here. Dr M said I shouldn't blame myself for it - in the state I was in, I was lucky to still be breathing even before I hit their rooftop.

Still, I gave all the info I had on the school's layout (including an insider's break down of the Erasers) to Rob and his team. In return they told me everything they kenw, including a few sites they'd marked as possible small Itex bases. Thinking that we might be able to get details from computers in these brances I started to lead recon missions. I snuck in alone, considering I had the most experience of Itex, and the soldiers kept security in check so I could get out. I mean, I was pretty good, but even I can't take on five Erasers at once - let alone the fifty or so they had gaurding each site.

Weeks turned into months of searching, and spring passed by. With each new Itex base we snuck into, the security seemed to get tighter, but then that might be because the bases we started breaking into had mutants locked up in them. There was only ever one or two, but that helped in sneaking them out without being noticed - plus, they were usually so underweight, as long as I could get to the roof, I could carry them with me on my flight back to the Martinez's. Still, I always had to fight the Erasers on guard duty, and as they started increasing security, the fights went from tooth and nail to playing for keeps with my life, but that was only to be expected. It's not like they were gonna start giving mutants away, and I wasn't about to leave any kids in their hands.

With the resources of the CSM, back at the Martinez's house, the kids all got nursed back to health. When I wasn't out on night raids, I usually spent my time comforting the kids, mutant to mutant, trying to reassure them that they were safe, and these people weren't white coats. And you know what, they were damn good kids when they got better - some of them even helped me out when I brought more mutants home.

In the next few months we went from a household of 3 humans and 1 bird kid, to 3 humans and 15 mutants (most of them needing twice, sometimes three times as many calories as usual).

As it was getting pretty crampt, the CSM decided to set up a safe house for them - well, I say house. It was a shipping container, refitted (with mutants in mind) into a sort of hotel for hybrids. The kids had their own bedrooms, plenty of space to run around both inside and out (when parked a few miles off shore) and Rob even set up a kind of on board middle school. It was as close to real life as kids with tails, fangs, and scales could wish for.

But out of the 40 or so kids I saved in the six months since I'd left the school, none of them had ever heard of Ari, or Star, or Rachet, or any of my flock. And we were running out of places to look.

I loved those kids, I really did, but I'd made a promise to my flock, and I dread to think what the white coats would do them while I was gone - especially Ari what with him being so young and human...

Trying to shake those thoughts from my head I lent on the bathroom sink, looking at my reflection in the mirror.

"It'll be fine." I told myself, thinking of how dissapointed Ella and the kids would be if I backed out now. A few weeks ago, Ella had more or less started a protest on the ship for me to attend high school - just like the people in her sappy rom-coms and dramas.

I didn't have time to be wasting on human stuff, but I couldn't turn down over fourty sets of bambi eyes, not when it seemed to make them so happy - and those kids deserved something after growing up in a place like Itex.

Since I could only sneak into Itex when night fell, the only problem was my paranoia of being found as a freak - something the internet tells me is very common at high school.

Hoodies would hide any marks left by the school, and apart from anti social behaviour the only thing that might pick me out as a weirdo was my bird-kid brains. But I could hide that. What worried me was feathers dropping out my hoodie, the smell of science labs, having to push through crowds, maybe someone would brush against my back and feel my wings there-

"Max?" I flinched a little - so caught up in my panic that I didn't hear Ella's footsteps down the hall. Her voice was muffled from behind the door, "s'that you in there?"

I blew out a shaky breath, reaching over to unlock the door and opening it. Ella stood in the hallway in her night dress and fluffy slippers, looking tired. A year or so younger then me, and a lot prettier, her long dark hair was suffering from a severe case of bed head. She grimaced at my tight smile,

"Still worried about school...?" I shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bathtub and shaking out my wings. Ella sat down beside me, bumping her shoulder into mine, "you'll be fine, trust me - especailly once I decide what you're wearing." I gently wapped her over the head with the crest of one wing, pulling it loosely around her as she shivered from the cool breeze that slipped in through the window. Forcing a smile I rolled my eyes,

"There's no way in hell, I'm going dressed in anything you pick out," she gave me an appalled expression and I frowned at her, "don't look at me like that. If it was your choice you'd choose something tight fitting, and I can't wear anything like that that with these." I reached my wing around, smushing my feathers in her face. She pushed my wing away with a scowl,

"That's what jackets are for! Come on Maaaax, you'd look even prettier then usual!" I rolled my eyes,

"El, I appreciate the effort but I'm going in a hoodie and jeans - end of story." I scowled at my knees, "And that's if I end up going at all..." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ella's face fall,

"What're you talking about?! The CSM kids are all psyched about one of their own infiltrating human society!" I didn't look at her,

"I know, I know, but not everyone would act as cool as your family if they found out about everything..." Ella pouted a little, saying in a quiet voice,

"I know...they just want to see you happy..." I snorted, staring at her pointedly,

"Since when have you talked about high school as being a happy place?" Ella raised her eyebrows definantly,

"Well it is when they don't give you homework! I know the CSM is important, but you've got to live a little Max!" I felt myself deflate slightly.

I didn't deserve to have fun while my flock were locked up in hell - I'd wasted enough time being unconcious and recovering.

"Whatever," I muttered, standing up, "it's just making me nervous." Ella gently jabbed a finger into my arm, apparently trying to cheer me up,

"Aw...I know what it is..." I raised my eyebrows at her, and she grinned mishiviously, "I saw all your dewy eyed looks in those cute movies I made you watch - is Maximum Ride is scared of boys?" I rolled my eyes sarcastically, humouring her,

"Me? Dewy eyed? Really?" Ella ignored me, reached out dramatically,

"I can see it now…the Angel that falls for a human…" I whapped her over the head again with my wing,

"And that's my cue to leave." Ella made to laugh but yawned instead, stretching rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Go back to bed Ella," I said, looking out the window, "the sun's barely up..." She gave me a concerned frown,

"And what are you going to do? Worry all morning?" I shook my head, ruffling my wings a little,

"Nah...think I'll go and stretch my legs." Ella raised an eyebrow agressively, so I held up my hands, "relax, I'll be back in time for this high school adventure of yours." She grinned happily and I gave her a small smile. Knowing I'd regret this whole thing, I turned, Ella standing up, and the both of us walking out the bathroom door...

FANG POV

The elevator rushed downwards, sliding smoothly to a halt. With a woosh of air the doors opened sleekly, revealing the antiseptic swept office floor. I walked in, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as usual - months ago I'd put it down to the room being so creepily stereotypical. The walls were almost completely covered in neat collections of wires and piping, computers and furniture gleaming professionally, and in every corner there was a survalliance camera. The door to my right led to higher clearance levels of the institute, locked by key card entry, and way above my paygrade. A desk and chair stood at the back of the room, and behind it sat Jeb. He was wearing his usual suit, elbows on the table and fingers interlocked as he smiled at me tiredly,

"Morning Fang." I gave him a small nod, taking up my usual briefing position in front of his desk. Jeb handed me an old fashioned pager, gesturing for me to take it,

"Replacement for the ear piece, as requested. It'll vibrate and light up if the institute needs you." I thanked him, attaching it to my belt gladly. The last few times they'd called me down to the Institute I'd mananged to tip over my school desk, taken off guard by someone suddenly yelling orders into my ear in the middle of maths.

"Anything else?" I asked. Jeb ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, opening his desk draw for the breifing file,

"We have a new mission for you - of course, Ari will be on stand-by if you need him..." Jeb pulled out the brown folder, sliding it across the desk to me, the red words stamped across it face up,

'Top Secret; Mission Fallen Angel'

"There's a new student joining your year," Jeb said, "she goes by Max Martinez. She has vital information on Itex's top secret labs." I opened the file, seeing a usual school ID picture and the caption,

'Max Martinex'  
'A.K.A: Maximum Ride'

Dark blonde hair hung loose around her face, and her pretty brown eyes stared stonily at the camera. I scanned down the mission overview, asking,

"How'd she end up with intel on Itex?" Jeb shrugged,

"I have no idea - to be honest, we were lucky to pick her up. She's been lying low for months. Point is, now we've found her, we could really use any data that she's got on Itex. The higher ups tell me she's been at the epicentre of most of its operations, so whatever she knows will be key in bringing the whole corporation down." I looked up from the file, speaking a little slowly,

"I don't want to speak out of line..." Jeb waved a hand for me to carry on. I put the fiile back down on his desk, frowning, "Why is this my mission? Ari usually has more luck with girls then I do - it's not like she's going to give up such sensitive information easily." Jeb sighed,

"Normally Fang, no offence, but I'd agree; you're a marksman, combat specialist, stealth expert. True, Ari can sweet talk his way out of any situation, but this isn't any normal situation. Max, she's..." Jeb paused, taking off his glasses and polishing them on the end of his sleeve, "Maximum Ride has been through a lot with Itex. If we send Ari in to flirt and conquor like usual, she'll be gone with the wind - and if she's avoided both us and Itex this long, there's no way we'll be able to find her again easily." Jeb put on his glasses back on, pushing them up to the bridge of his nose and crossing his arms,

"I want her to have a friend. She needs a friend, someone that she can trust - that is how you'll get the information. If the head honchos had their way, they'd just bring her down here, but without trust she'll never say anything." I raised an eyebrow, still unsure,

"You sure I'm the best one for the job?" Jeb stood up, smiling modestly at me,

"You should have more faith in your social skills Fang, especially with a sister like Nudge. If you do get stuck with how to make friends, I'm sure she'd be more then happy to give you few tips on vocalisation." Jeb grinned jovially, waiting for me to accept mission impossible like I had some sort of choice. I'd never turned down a mission before, my Mother would go beserk that I'd 'soiled her reputation'. I sighed heavily,

"...I'll give it a try." Jeb grinned, standing up and walking around the desk to clap me affectionately on the shoulder,

"Excellent..." Jeb suddenly lowered his voice, hand still on my shoulder, sounding almost nervous, "you need to be careful with her Fang...I'm not going to lie, I'm on a orders to get this done as soon as possible, but we have no idea what she's been through. I mean you haven't ever seen one of their labs up and running. It's-" Jeb scowled, staring at his feet, like he usually did when he wanted to say something that was above my clearance level. When he didn't look up for several seconds I asked,

"What is it?" Jeb's hand left my shoulder, and I saw him grimace as he walked back to his desk chair,

"It's not something I can tell you, it really needs to be seen - I'll try to get Ari to clear things up for you" I frowned at him but he sighed, going back to buisness and pulling some paper work towards him, distractedly,

"Now, gaining her trust isn't going to be easy, and that's if she trust anyone at all. She'll be protective, dismissive, and most likely a little agressive..." one side of Jeb's mouth quirked as he shuffled some papers, slotting them into the file I'd placed back on his desk and pushing it towards me again,

"Other then herself, the only person she's going to be protective of is her adopted sister - Ella Martinez."

I opened the folder, flicking through to the new pages Jeb had added. On top page there was another school ID photo, this one belonging to Ella.

"She's a freshman" I clarified, recognising her, "one of Nudge's friends." I flicked back to Max's picture, making a note of her face in case I managed to pass her in the corridors.

An alarm behind Jeb's desk started pinging and he lent back, clicking it off.

"Time for you to get going" He said, "school starts in ten minutes. Ari's already above ground." I nodded respectfully and turned on my heel, slotting the file into my messenger bag, the elevator doors opening automatically as I reached them. I stepped inside, turning around to see Jeb give me a loose wave before the doors slid shut. The lift began to glide upwards.

Now out from under the gaze of authority, I let my head loll back, groaning.

Sure Jeb. Don't pick agent superman. It's not like every girl in the school thinks Ari's good looking. Choose the tall, skinny, agent with no social skills, no friends, and no desire to make conversation.

I bet Ari was pissing himself about this. Me, talking. For longer then a few minutes at a time.

It'd be more effective, to give a house plant the mission to gain Maximum Ride's trust. I mean, if I'd known I'd be getting missions to make friends when I joined the Institute, Mum could've given them the plant instead of me - it might ensure some form of sucess.

So far, the only missions I've had have been investigating old Itex facilities, making sure they hadn't moved back in - nothing really dangerous. The few new ones the Institute had managed to find, seemed to get a heads up that we were coming; because by the time we'd gotten there, Itex had already high-tailed it over the horizon, leaving only loose wires and lab equipment behind.

I'd been training to help take them down for just under six months, but apart from sneaking around to scope out disused buildings, I hadn't had a chance to use any of my 'specific set of skills'. Still, it made my Mother happy, and after she was forced to leave the institute because of her car accident, her smiling was pretty rare.

Plus, since my high school was built on top of the Institute to hide it from Itex, it wasn't all that inconvenient. I mean, I still have the lowest clearance level, but the Institute had the real gadgets, suits, and sunglasses set up. Clean cut procedures and goals to help people - plus a few gadgets thrown my way.

Apparently they'd already had multiple undercover agents shutting down Itex all over the world. I'd met one of them, Dr Gunther Hagen. He'd told me how his team had busted all the Itex bases outside the USA, leaving them scrambling for cover on our home turf. I mean if they were recruiting a kid like me, then surely Itex was nearly finished.

The familiar whooshing feeling in my stomach announced my floor and there was a quiet 'ding' as the doors whirred open, revealing a cupboard door. I twisted the door handle, walking out into the school's boiler room and closing the door behind me. The three fold lock slid shut with several clicks and I crossed the concrete floor, walking over to the stairs set into the far wall.

Reaching the top I opened the door, slipping out into one of the schools entrance hallways and turning right, heading towards my locker. It wasn't far, right next to the water fountain, and standing right next to that, leaning against the wall, was Ari.

His bleached blonde hair stuck up stubbornly, and his blue eyes were scanning the corridor left and right. He had the kind of look that made me glad he was my partner and not my target. That superior look spilt over into his abilities, mainly where strength was concerned. Him being my partner in combat training was a little scary, even if I knew he'd never break any of my bones, it still felt like I was fighting a machine rather then a teenager.

As a person he was cool, a little rough around the edges, but as jocks usually went, he was alright. True, neither of us ever talked above the ground of the Institute or outside of missions; but that was only because it'd be wierd if we were seen talking to each other. We were partners, not technically friends, and he was miles ahead of me in the school's food chain.

Still, without one of his equally muscled football friends around, he could talk to my indirectly. He was focusing on the passers by, but as I opened my locker I heard his low voiced question of,

"Get the low down on your mission yet?" Not looking at Ari (or A-jax as he was known in school) I rummaged about in my locker, keeping my voice low,

"Yep." I heard Ari snort, and the retort I expected came in a patronising tone,

"Now, I know talking is hard for you Fangy, but can people like you actually flirt?" I rolled my eyes, stuffing books into my bag a little aggressively, wishing we were below ground so I could at least try and drop kick him,

"Who said anything about flirting? The missions to make friends, not make her my girlfriend." Ari sniggered,

"Girlfriend? Nah Fang, you just gotta pull a few tricks to ease the ladies in. I do it all the time, trust me..." I scowled, searching my locker aimlessly,

"Sure. And how many girls have you gone through pulling stuff like that?" I saw him grinning out the corner of my eye,

"A couple." I spared a short glare at him, just reaching for my sketchbook as Ari's tone sharpened slightly, "oh hold up…here she comes….tall, blonde…with that Ella girl. Looks a bit uptight, like she's got something shoved up-"

"I got it." I said, cutting off his language as they came into my peripheral vision. I dropped my box of sketching pencils, managing to get a better look without staring like a wierdo.

Kicking my locker shut, I bent down, recognising the back of Ella's waist length dark hair. The girl walking at her side, loose hoody almost half way down her thigh, was scanning her surroundings. Similar to her ID picture, she looked like she was braced for someone around us to pull out a gun, and she looked at Ella like she was only half listening.

"Yo, A-jax" said a recognisable voice, and I heard Ari exchange some form of 'cool guy greeting' with one of his friends. Gathering up the last of my pencils I stood up, glancing over my shoulder to see Iggy Griffiths - Ari's main man and partner in crime for most sports. Ari told me he only kept him by his side for Iggy's jokes, but I think he was just trying to justify having a good friend. The guy always said stuff like that, it's almost like he got his entire personality from watching trashy high-school dramas - picking out and copying the toughest guys he saw.

And tough was what Ari liked to be seen as; the fastest, strongest, smartest, the guy that smashes his way into the geeks shoulder as he passes because he's that cool. In my case, that meant shoving into my shoulder and sending my pencils scattering again, the leads in them snapped for sure.

I tried not to glare at him, reminding myself to kick his ass later, or at least get in a punch before he floored me. Ari held his hands up innocently and Iggy scowled at him, apologising and handing me back a few pencils - punching Ari dissaprovingly.

Ari grinned at me, letting out a small bark of laughter over his shoulder, knowing I couldn't do anything to show him up in the high school hallway. All I could do was curse internally and stuff my pencils into my bag...

Thanks for making it to the end of the chapter :) As promised, please accept this small factoid for your troubles,

Only one half of a dolphin's brain sleeps at a time.  
The other half that's awake signals when the dolphin needs to come up for air to prevent it from drowning.

Constructive criticism and even emoticons are appreciated if you have time to review :D  
Have a nice day!  
Fly on


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:  
Phantoms

* * *

MAX POV

Doing sports at Ella's high school was the most painfully infuriating thing I'd done in the last month. And three weeks ago I'd taken down three Erasers on gaurd, none of them managing to land a single claw on me until just before my final move, when the fourth member of the pack dodged my sucker punch and managed to fracture my jaw. I was so close to a clean bowling 'strike' of stealth, but no, one mutt just had to ruin it. And still, I'd take doing all of that dissapointment and frustration over doing sports here.

I had to change in one of the toilet cubicles (so there was no feather-fiasco when I took my t-shirt off) then I spent over an hour running around a track, painfully slowly, pretending I was out of breath whilst keeping up a brisk human jog. It was like being back at the school, only instead of physical testing, this was a test of mental stamina; especially having to maintain this whole 'human' act, at the same time as keeping my temper in check. This was difficult, because no matter how out of breath I pretended to be, the sports teacher kept yelling for me to go faster - and that was the only thing I couldn't do because it might blow my cover.

By the time I'd gotten changed back into my hoodie, I seemed to have settled into a simmering bitch-fit of 'I told you so's', making a mental note to explain to Ella the many, many differences between movies and real life. Difference she's neglected to mention to both me and the CSM kids.

After having to get changed in the toilet cubical, I left the sports building to find I was late for my next lesson. I didn't make a real effort to rush off around campus, seeing as I had the excuse of being a newbie up my sleeve, but en route I having a hard time convincing myself not to skip the next lesson.

Dr M seemed to have taken the sentiment that I 'sounded just like a song bird' to heart, because she'd signed me up for music, even though I didn't give a damn about learning an instrument. I mean, what was I going to do? Take inspiration from the pied piper and use a flute lure the white coats out!? Probably not.

On the other hand I knew attendance was important at school, and if it got too low they'd chuck me out - a tempting offer, but one that would dissapoint the kids. So, bargining with myself to attend by not listen, I followed the map they'd given me this morning

The right building seemed to be up ahead, but navigating corridors for the right room number was tedious. The more I walked down the halls of this high school the more it creeped me out, and my gut churned uncomfortably as I turned every corner. It felt like I was getting de javu everywhere I looked. When I'd told Ella, she only told me to stop worrying, saying I was probably just falling back on my old sense of paranoia because this high school thing was so new.

After climbing several flights of stairs I found my classroom, and double checking my timetable to see I had the right room number, I realised I couldn't avoid human contact any longer. I gritted my jaw, fighting the urge to jump out the window and do a U&amp;A, the promise I'd made to Dr M about 'trying to have fun' ringing in my ears.

Aiming to at least try and find it boring instead of irritating, I took a deep breath and entered the classroom.

Inside there was only a teacher, sat flicking through some sheet music at a keyboard. Muttering about being in the wrong room I'd almost managed to leave before he asked,

"Are you Max Martinez?" I turned around slowly, managing a grimace,

"Er...yeah. Sorry I'm late - got lost." He waved my statement aside, grinning sheepishly,

"I'm sure I can forgive you this once. Unfortunately, I've already split everyone into partners...but..." he pulled a sheet of paper towards him, running a finger down a list and muttering, "just as I thought..." He grinned up at me, "Nick Walker is without a partner. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you joining in. He's in the third practise room on the left. Okay?"

No. It was not okay. I was not okay. But I still nodded at him politely as I backed out the room, feeling my temper still bubbling under the surface from sports.

Dragging my feet along the corridor, I stopped at the third door, opening it to see Nudge's brother turn around. Ella had pointed him out to me this morning, and as I recognised the black hair and olive skin, I felt my bones start to ache - remembering what she'd always told me about her friend Nudge, this state's number one motor mouth.

I knew it, this high school thing really is a mental test.

Nick Walker sat on a piano stool, sheet music spread on the stand, a slightly confused twinge twisting his otherwise blank expression as he looked at me. I forced what felt like a small smile on my face,

"The teacher told me to come partner up with a Nick Walker?" The boy gave a barely there smile,

"Sure - call me Fang." I closed the door, dropping my bags just inside and clarifying,

"I'm Max."

I stood awkwardly by the door, silence filling the void and space between us, both looking uneasily at the other.

"So..." Fang said, the effort of making conversation obvious in his tone, "do you play any instruments?" I shook my head and Fang frowned thoughtfully, glancing back at the piano keys, "...right."

He paused for another second, then shrugged, "I s'pose you could sing?" I raised my eyebrows doubtfully, feeling that sarcastic tone claw its way past the politeness I'd wedged into my throat,

"...I don't really sing." Fang moved over on the piano stool so I could sit down,

"Course you do. Everyone does." I narrowed my eyes, fairly set on not being ordered around,

"Great, but I'm not everyone. Can't you just play and pretend I did something?" He turning to look at me over his shoulder, eyebrows raised,

"Sure, if you want to fail." I scowled heavily. I thought the dude was Nudge's sister - where was the twenty minute rambling?

Fang glanced from me, to the sheet music, and back again, sounding like he was stabbing out in the dark,

"So...can you read music?" I snorted silently, shaking my head. I could read polish thanks to the school (they'd wanted to find out how well a bird brain picks up language) but music didn't seem to be on their list of necessary mutant academia. Fang blew his cheeks out, spreading the pages out on the stand defiantly,

"Okay then. I'll take you through the tune, you can sing it the second time around."

"Can't you sing?" I complained, Fang shrugging as he turned around,

"Yeah, but you since can't play an instrument, you've got to do it." He frowned at me, slightly "what were you expecting to do in this class if you can't play an instrument?" I sighed, scowling as I pictured Dr M's delighted face,

"I don't know, my...Mum signed me up for most of this stuff." Fang raised his eyebrows,

"Did you not do any core subjects at school?" I dragged out my mental box of fake life-stories,

"No, I've was homeschool." Fang nodded slowly,

"Okay, well have you seen any musicals?" I frowned at him,

"What's a musical?" Fang's eyebrows disappeared into his hair,

"It's a play with songs. It's the topic of class this semester." I nodded slowly, Fang gesturing to the music on the stand,

"I can play some songs from Phantom of the Opera. Want to have a go?" I frowned, and Fang took my disintrest in singing to be nerves, suggesting, "I can sing along with you if you're nervous?" I snorted,

"I don't get nervous." Fang shrugged and patted the space on the stool next to him. I tried to come up with some other excuse to not sing, but nothing came to mind. Fang looked at me expectantly, eyebrows hidden in his fringe as he waited for me to take a seat, and after a few seconds I finally caved to human responsiblity.

This day was a disaster as it was, I did not want to add 'failing a class' to the list of why I didn't like attending high school...

* * *

Fang played through the song, pointing out how the notes went up or down when you were meant to sing higher or lower, and showing me by singing through the whole song by himself.

It wasn't horrific, I mean it wasn't fun, but with Fang singing too it wasn't a painful experience. It certainly wasn't hard; my bird brain managed to pick up the melody easily, and I grudgingly started to sing along during his third rendition.

Fang seemed to take my weakening protest at singing for enthusiasm, and as we sang through the first verse together, I turned to see his face holding the most expression I'd seen thus far - his lips forming half a smile. Having learnt the tune almost by heart I started focusing on the lyrics, my brow furrowing the more I read. The character was singing about being left behind by their friend, their parent, about their world shattering.

My mind clouded with thoughts of Ari, and my flock, and my eyes began watering. Before I could stop it a few tears, stupid little tears ran down my cheek. I tried to catch them, casually passing it off as scratching my nose, and spending the rest of the song trying to ignore the lyrics. Unfortunately, Fang seemed to have noticed, and as his fingers left the keys he asked tentatively,

"You alright…?" I turned to see something close to concern on Fang's face, and falling back into autopilot I heard myself laugh,

"Yeah, yeah, fine-" I jolted in surprise as the door opened, the bustle of the hallway filtering into the room and catching me off gaurd. Instinctively I snapped into fight or flight mode, reaching out to grab the music stand on my left and whilring around, ready to knock an Eraser out cold. But instead of a 300 pound stinking dog in the doorway, I only saw my rather alarmed music teacher, looking from me, to the music stand, and back again.

"Errr...just wanted to remind you the rooms are sound proofed - you won't have heard the lunch bell that went five minutes ago." The teacher backed out and I replaced the music stand, a little embarressed.

Before Fang could mention my behaviour I walked over to my bag, muttering a goodbye and leaving the room. He didn't say a word as the door closed, and I tried to push both him and the image of my flock out my head, hurrying off to find Ella for lunch...

* * *

Ella was waiting for me at my locker. The entire walk to the cafeteria concerned her crush, Iggy Griffiths. She always talked about him at home, having asked him out several times but being turned down. He sounded pretty nice, letting Ella down gently each time, but it hadn't discouraged either her affection or her and Nudge's gossiping.

When we reached the lunch hall, I was relieved to hear her change the subject, Ella cataloging the cliche lunch tables like that Mean Girl's movie we'd watched last week. Despite the many differences I'd experienced between real life and the movies, from what I could see, with tables of stick thin barbie dolls, or greasy haired nerds, this one small part of Hollywood seemed surprisingly accurate.

Three sandwiches, fruit, and a bag of donuts later, Ella and I walked towards a table occupied by a pretty mocha skinned girl - Ella introducing her as Nudge. My butt had barely planted itself on the bench when Nudge sprung into action,

"OMG, you're Max?! Ella's told me so much about you!" As she drew breathe I spared a glance at Ella (as there wasn't much you could say about me without revealing the greatest secret of all time) but Ella barely got in a shrug before Nudge was rambling on, "I'm Nudge Walker, professional fangirl, gadget girl, fashion expert, gossip guru-"

"And motor mouth." Ella finished, stuffing one of Nudge's sandwiches into her open mouth to shut her up. Nudge took a disgruntled bite out of her sandwich but did as suggested, Ella grinning at her before turning to me,

"…So, good day so far Max?" I glared at her, unwrapping the first of many sandwiches,

"Alright...the movies got a lot of things wrong though..." I turned to Nudge, "I met your brother Fang...he's not as chatty as I thought he'd be." Nudge snorted, pouching her food in her cheeks to speak unperturbed,

"Fang never talks, at all - no one ever believes we're related. It's hilarious, though I wish he'd talk more sometimes-" Ella interrupted Nudge,

"I wish he'd stand up to A-jax, I mean Iggy tries to stop it but-" Nudge cut her off,

"I know right! I mean Fang's a freaking ninja - he showed me all these martial art moves he learnt off the internet. He could totally take him, but apparently" Nudge's voice lowered in pitch as she imitated Fang,

"_it's not worth disrupting the balence_" She rolled her eyes,

"I mean what the hell is that supposed to mean? Tess, y'know Tess in my English class, she said that loads of girls thinks he's hot, but no one will ask him out cause they don't want to risk getting on Ajax's bad side. I mean, would you feel safe if that guy had a grudge against you? Saying that, Lisa was brave enough to ask him to the movies...Fang turned her down- but that's another thing! I swore he liked her, like he went to chess club just to see her for a while. I mean he said it was cause Mum asked him to go, but I just know it wasn't. What would he get out of become chess champ like Mum? He told me himself he's not interested in the game!" Nudge chewed her food grumpily, Ella taking the chance of her silence to suggest,

"I bet Max could take A-jax apart, we could make her his body gaurd?" Nudge swallowed her mouthful, grinning at me like all her dreams had come true. I couldn't help but smile slightly,

"I'm sure I could figure something out." Nudge clapped her hands with excitement, stopping as she looked over my head,

"Oop…talking of" Nudge elbowed Ella, "Max's jackass and Ella's hotty are approaching..."

"Hey Ella!" shouted a familiar voice. I turned around to spot who I could only suppose was Iggy Griffiths, walking towards our table, eyes fixed on my sister as he reached us, smiling, "you left your coat on the bleachers again..."

Under normal circumstances I would've spotted Ella's flirting technique, teasing her senseless for ripping off some girly movie. As it was I sat frozen, unable to believe my eyes. Iggy Griffiths, my Iggy stopped just short of Ella, his gaze sliding over to me and staring with blue eyes that could most definately see. I stood up, hypnotized, his eyes widening as I asked,

"Iggy?"

"Max?!" I jumped towards him, Iggy's arms locking tightly around my shoulders in a hug, "...oh thank god," he muttered into my hair.

"I'm sorry," I murmered, hands digging into his jock jumper and feeling the outline of feathers beneath his t-shirt. My voice started shaking, "I'm so, so sorry...I tried to find you, I had a whole army out searching, but you were gone and-"

"Max?" Ella asked from behind me. I wiped my eyes, opening my mouth to explain but Iggy got there first, keeping an arm around my shoulder as he drew back,

"Sorry Ells, I- I haven't seen Max in a while." Ella tilted her head, confused, and I grinned at her,

"I didn't know my friend Iggy and your Iggy were the same person." A look of comprehension dawned on Ella's face as she looked back and forth between us,

"You're _that _Iggy?" The ginger ninja grinned, opening his mouth to say something but someone behind him speaking over him,

"Not that I don't love a hallmark moment," A-jax drawled, "but what exactly is going on dude?" I looked up at A-jax, seeing that he was even taller then Iggy and I, bleached blonde hair sticking up as sharp as his voice. He squinting at Iggy for a moment, then suddenly glared down at me; icy eyes looking me up and down like I was gum he'd found on the bottom of his shoes.

Iggy squeezed me tightly, smiling at A-jax,

"Max and I grew up together. My parents dragged me down here from two states over before I could say goodbye - I didn't have any contact details so we haven't heard from each other in, what...?" he looked down at me as if checking, "six months?" I nodded, proud at how naturally the lie slipped off his tongue. Ajax rolled his eyes,

"Whatever dude; you deal with all this mushy crap and come find me when you grow some balls." He backed off, swaggering away impressively. I stared at the back of his wide shoulders, a little disgusted.

"What the hell is his problem?" I muttered, Iggy smirking playfully,

"Oh he's just putting all that on - he's not that stuck up when you get to know him." Iggy smiled at Ella, asking with that familiar, cheeky grin,

"Well, at least now I know why your Mum doesn't let anyone come round your house," he nudged me, "I mean with this one on the loose..." I punched him in the ribs and Iggy laughed, letting me go and backing up a steo. Now that I looked at him properly, I could see that he'd gone through the same transformation I had. He was wearing a very loose t-shirt under his jock-jacket, and proper nutrition had given him half an extra foot in height. His hair had been cropped fashionably short, and his eyes - I just couldn't get over the fact he was actually looking at me.

"They work?" I asked, staring back and forth between each blue iris. Iggy grinned,

"Yeah. Would you believe it, that last op actually did the trick. I can probably see better then you now." I almost laughed, my mental voice of a flock leading yelling itself hoarse for information. Still trying to play the whole the casually I grinned at him,

"So where's Wren? How'd you guys make it?" Iggy's face dropped.

"Wren...didn't make it out...she said she had to distract them so I could get out. I think she was trying to do what you always used to, y'know, save the day...I haven't seen her since. She fought off the Erasers by herself while I ran outside, and I wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't see anything but I ran outside and took off..." Iggy frowned down at me, "I passed out, mid-air, but somehow I must've landed; cause the next thing I know, I'm lying in a bed, two people standing over me. The Griffiths, they...they took me in. They were ex-Itex employees, they tried to stop what was happening to us but- well Itex told them to quit and keep everything quiet, or else they'd 'retire them'." Iggy smiled to himself sadly, "I still can't believe my luck. I don't know how I got there, but they're good people, they helped me try and find you and Wren." I swallowed sadly,

"I can't believe my luck either - I crash landed in Ella's back yard. Her Mum fixed me up, and her Dad got the government to help me try and take down Itex." I grimaced at him, still worried for Wren but thinking of all the kids on the CSM ship, "Iggy we've been saving kids, getting mutants out, giving them a home." Iggy stared at me and I smiled happily, "God there must be near 50 of them now, all holed up on a ship, safe, we even started a middle school onboard." Iggy gaped at me, eyes wide and voice low,

"Damn Max...once a superhero always a superhero."

"We're still looking," I said quickly, "for the school I mean. The CSM even found out the name of their biggest base. It's called the Institute for Higher Living. We haven't found them yet, but when we do, we can save the rest of the flock."

"I want to help." Iggy said shortly. I nodded, not sure what to say, the both of us looking over at Ella as she suggested,

"Why don't you come back and meet Mum and Dad tonight? We could sort things out and show you what we've got on Itex." Iggy grinned, walking over to her,

"That sounds perfect Ells." I smiled, watching as he sat down beside her, smiling between the both of us.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on...?" Nudge asked, for once a little lost for words as she looked between the three of us.

I grinned, sitting down next to her and beginning to build a castle of lies, one that might somehow explain everything.

Finding one of my flock felt like Christmas - or, at least, it felt like the kind of Winter excitement Ella said came with Christmas.

Through the rest of lunch I couldn't stop smiling. I mean on top of everything else, Iggy's body language while sat next to Ella made me fell all warm and fuzzy for him. True, its not even a concept for Itex experiment's that they could have a 'crush', but the way Iggy looked at Ella, it sure looked like there was an exception to the rule.

I mean, she'd said Iggy had turned her down a lot, but then she didn't know all the things you had to run away from with a pair of wings on your back. Maybe now she knew, now that he knew she'd be safe, it'd be different for them. If things keep going the way they are, I might have to do some serious re-evaluation - because maybe school wasn't going to be all that bad...

* * *

**Welcome, ladies and gents, to your chapterly dose of a slightly-useless-always-pointless fact :)**

**Non dairy creamer is flammable...don't try that at home kids  
**

**Thank you to anyone who reviews - you truly lovely person ^-^  
In keeping with maximum ride, here, have a freshly baked, homemade, virtual cookie :P  
**

**Fly on,  
M**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:  
Angels, Aliens, and Itex's Demons

* * *

Max POV

Having Iggy around for dinner that night was unbelievable. It hadn't sunk in yet. He was here, really here, and he was okay. Maybe even better then okay, judging by how close he now sat to Ella.

We talked business over dinner, mainly bringing Iggy up to date on what we had on Itex, but when Rob and Dr M heard his story of waking up in the Griffiths house, they were completely confused. I mean, I believed him, we all did, but it didn't make sense. He just wakes up, two loving guardians ready to take him in out of the goodness of their hearts? Sure, my landing in the Martinez's back yard wasn't all that different, but hearing yet another occurance of luck (an unheard of quality in the life of your average teenage mutant) it made me feel uneasy.

Iggy and I agreed that, as much as we'd love for life to deal us a fair hand for once, the both of us finding the perfect landing spot seemed too good to be true. Just to do some background checks, Ig agreed to give Rob his address and the Griffiths' details.

It was late by the time we'd finished chatting, and I felt a little dazed as we followed him out into the dark back yard. Iggy gave Ella and I a hug, shook hands with the Martinez's, and flashed us a smile before running a few steps and jumping into the air. I watched him go, huge ginger wings beating down powerfully and flattening the grass in the woosh of air, watching as he dissapeared into a dot in the dark sky.

That night, for the first time in god knows how long, I slept soundly. No nightmares, no morning flight to calm the nerves they brought, just my internal avian alarm clock waking me up with the sun. I lay in bed for an hour before padding downstairs for breakfast, Iggy already downstairs and eating Dr M's cooking, having to wait while I got dressed to be shown around the CSM ship.

The kids seemed over joyed to have another older mutant amoung them, most of them being under 12, and they were happier still to learn he was part of my original 'school gang'. I think it made them feel safer. It certainly made Ella feel very nervous, and I tried to hold back most of my comments when I noticed her goggling at Iggy's cute little knack for making the kids laugh.

Iggy came around most weekends and in the evening after school. Either he was helping Rob out or he was spending time with Ella, his wings hanging loosley out the slits in the back of his t-shirt, and drawing her eyes. Unable to resist playing cupid I told Ella about our little bird-kid weakness, the one I used to use on my feathered flock when they needed calming down. When I walked in an hour later, Ella was still realigning his crooked feathers, stroking her fingers through them gently, but Iggy had fallen fast asleep on her lap.

On top of all this, the whole high school thing started to become almost tolerable.

Just as I'd promised Nudge and Ella, I kept my eye onher brother Fang in the hallways, several times stepping in to stop A-jax from throwing him against the lockers, and eventually walking him to most of his classes. He started sitting with us at lunch too, Iggy joining us whenever he didn't have football practise, so while Ella entertained our number one motor mouth, Fang provided a slower, more comfortable pace of conversation. And I dare say I almost started to relax around him.

Recon missions, though only every two weeks, always gave me a few kids to save, and although we weren't much closer to finding the Itex's main base, it was still progress. And for a while, at least, I felt sorry to say I was happy...

* * *

FANG POV

I shut the door of Ari's van quietly and gave him a loose salute of thanks, watching as he stamped on the gas, driving home as recklessly as usual.

Tonight had been more then a little disheartening. It'd been the fifth time we'd caught wind of Itex's newest headquarters, and it'd been the fifth time I'd gone in to scope the place, only to find everything gone. Lab equipment scattered on tables, metal trolleys abandoned, wiring left hanging where computers had been ripped away; nothing to see, nothing to hear, just the faint smell of antiseptic in the air.

On the bright side, for the past few weeks, Mission Fallen Angel seemed to be going well - even with my lacksocial skills. Unfortunately Ari had also found himself a new favourite hobby. Acting on orders from higher up he started showing me up in front of Max, usual stereotypical bully stuff, apparently so she'd feel sorry for me or jump in and defend me, 'strengthening our bond'. Prat.

Trying to show him my appreciation for this when we got down to the Institute (away from the high school food chain) never made me feel any better either; cause no matter how many times I took a swing at him, he always came out on top of the fight. It was pointless. And getting shoved over, unable to do anything, got annoying; so much so, I resorted to asking Jeb to override his orders. Unfortunately he didn't have enough clearance to do it - the big shots wanted me beaten up that badly. Yeah I'm really loving this spy business.

I looked across my front lawn, up at the house.

There was a light on in my Mother's room, but for once her shadow wasn't staining the curtains drawn over the window. She usually waited up for a brief on how my mission went, but since the whole thing had been such a fuck up, I wasn't really in the mood to stand on ceremony. It was nice that she wanted to help me out with my work at the Institute, but I was getting a little tired of telling her we missed our target - it was like brining home a straight F's report card, when your Mum was head of education for the state.

Sticking to the shadows I crept across the lawn, skirting around the house, and dodging the water from the sprinkler. Thankfully, I was still wearing my recon mission gear, so scaling up the side of the house quietly was a piece of cake.

Settling my foot on the ground floor window frame, I jumped, grabbing my bedroom's window ledge and pulling myself up a little. Hanging on one handed, I dug around in my pocket for my tool kit, pulling out a flat object and wiggling it under the crack between the window and sill. The latch clicked free and I pushed it up and open, clambering up and crawling through the small gap, careful to land silently on my thin bedroom carpet. Someone switched my desk lamp on and I held back a groan as I saw my Mother's outline. She sat cross legged on my desk chair, a look of utmost disapproval crossing her face,

"Fang...why are you sneaking into your room?" I trudged over to my night stand,

"I thought we'd talked about this - I'll wake up Nudge if I just stroll in through the front door." I kicked off my shoes, dropping my gloves on top of them. She took on a patronising tone,

"Fang...you and I both know, that if you woke Nudge up because you weren't sneaking around effectively, then you'd be in the wrong profession. Your greatest skill is stealth, anyway." I gritted my teeth, frustration bubbling in my chest after failing another mission.

"Well, you're the one who got me in this spy business" I snapped, "it's not my fault if I'm not good enough at my goddamn job…"

I saw her face stiffen in the dim lamp light, and a pang of guilt dipped into my stomach. It wasn't like I hated the Institute. I mean I've never met anyone other then Ari in my program, but that just makes the whole thing more important - I mean how many people can say they save the world for a hobby? Sure they pushed me pretty hard, too hard a lot of the time, but that was only to make sure I wasn't caught by Itex. It was just that, lately, I felt like we'd never catch them.

"I didn't mean be aggressive," she said flatly, "it just feels like your hiding from me. You've always told me about all your missions and training, but now I never hear about anything." I grimaced. Yeah, I tell you cause you always ask.

"It just hasn't been going well…" I said shortly, but Anne seemed to want me to elaborate. Rubbing one eye to stave off a yawn I gritted my jaw, "it's the fifth time we've missed Itex. There must be a mole in the institute, there's no other explanation for it; they're always gone when ever I get there, and it always looks like we've only missed them by minutes. I've never gotten anything solid on them, let alone stopped them, and if we don't manage it somehow, everyone, especially Max, will always be in danger."

"Since when was Max such a concern?" I shrugged, sinking down my my bed covers,

"Jeb told me she's been through a lot with Itex. I don't know exactly what that means, but there's...there's these moments when I can see she accidentally drops her guard, laughing or something. And then she realises she's being open, and freezes, like she expects me to suddenly turn on her. That's not...I just know it's because of Itex..." I ran a hand through my hair slowly, "Max is a good person. I don't know what Itex did to her, but as long as it's still up and running, Jeb said they'll always be chasing her. If it doesn't go down, Max is never going to feel safe." I heard my Mother shifting in her seat,

"Well then, you should probably know...I've been in contact with some old co-workers. You're right, about what Itex did to Max - she'll be hunted for the rest of her life unless they're finished." I looked around at her, confused,

"I thought our info on Itex didn't include what Max had gone through - isn't that the point of this mission? To find out what she's seen?" Anne shook her head,

"It is - we still don't know the details she has on Itex. What we do know, is a little of what she's gone through."

"...How?" My Mother frowned, thinking over her words a moment and nodding to herself a little before speaking,

"Call Ari, he'll show you - tell him to be outside just before dawn...

* * *

Anne left my room without much more of a fuss after that, and I managed to get a few hours sleep before Ari pulled up. The black passenger door was unlocked when I pulled on the handle. Jumping in, I'd barely pulled the door shut before Ari punched me, his fist flying so violently into my upper arm that it went a little numb. I threw a punch back but Ari caught my fist in the air, throwing it away from him as I glared,

"The hell was that for?!" Ari practically growled at me,

"It was a warning Black bird. This 'duty calls' shit, straight after a mission, at this time in the morning - it's a one off. Do it again, and we're going to need to have a little talk over a proper knuckle sandwich." I rolled my eyes, muttering,

"Neanderthal," as Ari stamped on the gas. The van back-peddled a little in protest, leaping suddenly forwards at break neck speed. We lurched around the corner at the end of the road, the van scurrying towards the outskirts of town.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked.

"Confidential." I stared at him, narrowing my eyes at his grin,

"This is to do with my mission?!" Ari chuckled,

"Well you shouldn't have called in so early." I gritted my teeth, biting back any retaliation.

Last time I argued with him, I'd won, but he'd almost crashed the van in frustration. Instead, I settled for grinning as he stalled, watching as he rammed the steering wheel, cursing at both me and the dashboard, fiddling with the ignition and furiously reigniting the engine...

* * *

After a long ass ride, filled with the heavy breathing of Ari's silent temper tantrum, we arrived at the edge of a forest.

We got out, Ari lead the way deep into the trees, getting us so far in that the leaves overhead blocked out the first blue sky of the morning. We must've hiked several miles before we reached the edge of a cliff; a sharp rock face, jutting out from the trees, forest stretching left, right, and behind us. Off the cliff edge, 50ft below us, I could see the tress stretched out almost to the horizon.

Ari stopped, pulling some things out of his jacket and chucking them at me roughly. I pocketed the pair of binoculars but held up the belt cluelessly,

"What's this?" Ari rolled his eyes tugging his through the belt loops on his pants,

"Dad lent it to me. It's an invisibility booster. Some chameleon tech or something, helps you blend in - just in case Max looks your way. Press the button in the middle and you got three seconds of invisibility. Takes 3 seconds to recharge, but stay still while its active - the tech can't function if you're moving." I tugged the belt on, asking hopelessly,

"What do you mean 'if Max looks my way'?" Ari smirked and I scowled at him, retorting, "what? I know she didn't follow us, and if she's not climbing up the cliff edge over there then what are we doing here?" Ari snorted,

"Just wait - you'll see." he pulled out his binoculars and directed them at the horizon.

The sun was starting to rise now, the birds and insects stirring in the trees and cold morning air. Ari ducked behind a tree and I followed suit a few feet away, getting out my binoculars, and directing them (like his) at the horizon.

Having no idea was I was meant to be seeing, I scoured the skyline, but other then clouds and trees, the only thing I could see was a bird. I looked at Ari, confused, but he was busy staring at something I apparently couldn't see.

I looked back into my binoculars again. The bird was much larger now, flying towards us. I span the dial to increase the focus slightly, zooming in on it. It was pretty damn big. The feathers on its head were being battered by the wind, blowing oddly up behind it like a halo. It flew closer and closer and closer, and as its face came into focus I dropped my binoculars.

Max.

Max was flying towards us.

Flying with actual wings.

Well at least the name of the mission made sense...

I turned to look at Ari, but he was watching Max like a hawk, pocketing his binoculars the closer she got and taking cover behind the tree. I looked back at the skyline. Max was barely 50ft away now, and I drew back behind the tree, staying hidden as I heard her land. With a ruffle of feathers, I heard boots thudding against the cliff rock as she ran, skidding to a halt and catching her breath.

I peeked around the corner carefully, watching as Max sat down on the edge of the cliff. She had her back to us, feet hanging over the edge, shaking out the 15ft wings like someone shaking out their legs after a long run. Under the dim morning sunlight I stared at the intricate mess of feathers; they went from white at the tips, to tan, to golden brown, to chocolate, darkening the closer they got to her back. She wore what looked like combat gear, slits cut in the back to allow her wings through, and having caught her breath I thought I could hear her humming.

I strained my ears. It sounded like the tune of that first song I'd made her sing in music - the one where she cried.

I watched her fold one of her wings around herself, inspecting the feathers and straightening a few of them out. So this was what she had on Itex. She was literally a result of Itex. No wonder this mission was so important. She'd definately have information on how to bring them down if she'd been on the inside.

I'd heard a little about the experiments carried on in Itex, but those were mainly to do with Erasers. Was this the real extent of what they did to people, why all those children went missing...? And if Max was one of those children...how long had she been inside Itex? What has she survived to be sitting there now?

A cold draft of air swept over the cliff, blowing through Max's wings which she spread to catch the breeze. She pulled her legs up to her chest slightly, watching as the sun pulled itself higher into the sky, the humming dying in her throat as her voice cracked. I watched as her head fell forwards, forehead resting on her as her shoulders shaking.

Her wings came around her like she was trying to hug herself and I listened hard as her tearful whisper drifted through the air,

"Ari, Star, Ratchet...god, where the hell are you all?!" I glanced at Ari curiously, wondering if he knew what Max was on about. He shrugged at me, looking a lot less tense then I was at hiding behind a tree while Max cried on a clifftop. I turned back to her, my heart sinking as I watched her pull herself together.

Max sniffed defiantly, scrubbing her face with her palm and muttering something to herself, clenching her hands into fists as she stood up, clearly trying to shake herself out of it. In case she turned around I pulled myself completely behind the tree. But the thoughts racing around my head had misted my concentration, and I fell back against the tree trunk too hastily, making the leaves rustle.

I froze, cursing internally, hearing Max turn around on the spot.

She hestitated a second, but then came her footsteps; slowly pacing in my direction, intent on investigating. My finger crept around to the invisibility belt buckle and just before she walked into view I pressed it.

...1 second...

I stood stock still, not daring to blink or breathe, watching her out of the corner of my eye as she scanned left and right.

...2 seconds...

Ari had also activated his belt, so her 360 area swipe revealed nothing. But looking down, she did manage to find the binoculars I'd dropped.

...3 seconds...

She picked them up. Max had her back to Ari, not noticing him reappear. Yet somehow, whether through sheer determination to stay hidden or a glitch in the tech, I was still invisible. Three seconds was definitely up, but Max still couldn't see me, looking around for the binocular's owner, her eyes passing over me twice.

Still not daring to blink or breathe, I watched her drop them, apparently convinced they'd been dropped by a hiker.

As she turned away Ari reactivate his belt, the both of us frozen as she walked back to the cliff edge. Staying hidden behind the tree trunk I let out a quiet breath, becoming visible again as my chest fell. I didn't dare move from my spot to take another look at Max, only listened instently as her boots scuffed against the rocky edge.

"Get a grip on yourself Maximum," I heard her mutter, sternly, "you don't cry..." I heard the sound of her jump from the ground and risked a peak from behind the trunk. For a moment, there was no sign of her. But with a whooshing sound of air in her wings she rose above the cliff edge, wings beating against the air powerfully and carrying her higher and higher into the sky.

I shaded my eyes as she soared away from us, unable to look at her without beind blinded by the morning sunlight. When she became nothing more then a dot on the horizon I fell back against the trunk, sliding slowly down the bark and slumping at its base, puffing out my cheeks in disbelief.

"Bit of a close one there." Ari said quietly, clearly indicating the binoculars incident.

"What the hell's going on?" I muttered.

"No idea. Jeb told me that the belts only give you 3 seconds. Don't know how you got longer. I mean I only got three seconds and I didn't even blink or -" I cut across him,

"I was talking about Max." Pushing myself to my feet swiftly I stared at him coldly, "why was I not told this before? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but that looked like a pretty key factor in my mission" Ari shrugged,

"I don't think Dad knew about it till just before they assigned you the mission."

"Why didn't he tell me then?" Ari shrugged,

"I dunno man, I mean everyone knows you suck at communication. Maybe he thought trying to employ those kinda skills with someone off of the X-men, wasn't gonna to help your confidence - y'know, if he told you right off the bat." I chewed the inside of my cheek, unconvinced but willing to ask Jeb in person. But then another idea came to mind. I looked over at the spot where Max had been sat moments ago, wondering aloud,

"How do we know she's definitely from Itex…?" Ari gave me a look that told me he wasn't following. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to justify myself, "Well the Director clearly has a lot of money to play around with. I know the Institute is part of the government, but you still hear about conspiracies and experiments-" Ari snorted,

"Seriously Fang? The Institute has nerds matching her case with Itex's cradle snatching kids, but you're somehow worried about alien conspiracies?" I glared at him,

"That's not what I mean and you know it." I snatched up the binoculars at my feet and twiddled the focus dial, carrying on, "I'm just wondering...after all those failed missions...maybe the higher ups aren't telling me something. Maybe they aren't letting Jeb tell me something."

"Fang." Ari said flatly, "Shut up." He rolled his eyes at my indignant expression and gave me a very level look, "if there was something you really needed to know, Dad would probably break protocol - you know him as well as I do. And screw those missions, Itex hasn't been able to stay under the radar this long thanks to luck - hell even the government don't know they exist. Itex is cleaver, hell wouldn't surprise me if there was a mole in the Institute working for them." I nodded mutely and Ari pocketed his binoculars, saying in an unsually calm voice,

"Look, we've may've fucked up those missions, but Max might be the key we need to finally take 'em by surprise. You're mission is probably the most important thing they've ever handed out and you honestly think they're not telling you something?" I stared at him,

"But that's just my point. If this is the most important mission they've ever dolled out, why doesn't my clearance get me any further then Jeb's office? Hell I struggle getting the lowest clearance files. Don't you think that's wierd for such a big mission?" Ari shrugged,

"Everyone has secrets Fang - the Institute, my Biology teacher, Max. Sometimes, you've just gotta have faith in the system." I scowled at him, unconvinced, Ari rolling his eyes, "come on man, stop being so paranoid."

He started swaggering back to the van, apparently completely disregarding everything I'd just said in favour of a good nights sleep. Wow, such trust in his partner.

A part of me wanted to just grow wings like Max, fly away dramatically to make a kind of point. But home was too far to walk and I'd been up all night already, so when Ari yelled,

"You coming or what?!" I pushed myself into a grumpy walk, following dogedly in his footsteps...

* * *

**It is my greatest pride, and deepest pleasure to present you with your chapterly dose of a slightly-pointless-totally-random fact,**

**A group of toads is called a knot  
No wait, this totally comes in useful if you pass by a load of witches and wizards with their pets  
*stares accusatively at the muggles***

**Thank you for reading this far, you beautifully constructed organism *tips bowler hat*  
Fly on,  
M**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:  
Mission Impossible  
(take 394)

* * *

Fang POV

The ride back home was quiet, Ari dropping me off in the early hours of the morning, and being too tired to climb back in through the window I chanced using the front door. The house was quiet, everyone sleeping as I crept upstairs in the dark, slipping silently inside my room and flopping down on my bed - not even bothering to get undressed. I ended up sleeping through the most of the day, waking up a little hungry to my phone ringing.

It was Jeb. They'd got another location on Itex's new HQ, and if we moved fast (hopefully before information got around the Institute) we might be able to avoid another hit and run like the last mission. I decided not to mention my doubts in the Institute, at least not until I could ask him face to face, so I agreed and started getting ready. I didn't like we were gonna get lucky on our 6th attempt, but it was still worth a shot.

With a half hour to go before Ari arrived, I forced myself into the shower, dragging on a new set of recon kit, and attaching the invisibility belt from this morning. A few minutes before he was due to arrive I climbed back out my window. As much as Anne liked me sneaking out the front, Nudge's window was right above the front door, and the little daylight left meant she'd be able to see me walking off into a creepy looking black van - not something I wanted to explain my way out of.

Ari pulled up to the curb and I got in cautiously, ready to deflect more punches, but all he threw my way was a thick brown file - the usual debrief info and a blueprint of the building. Apparently this base was using the cover of a reasearch lab, where (supposedly) deceased prisoners were taken apart, to find out what made them so sick in the head. It was creepy stuff, and the horror movie setting of it all made me feel uneasy. It was about a mile outside town, hidden in the forest, at just the right distance for 'no one to hear your scream'.

Ari dropped me off at the edge of the forest, leaving a half mile hike till to reach the barbed wire ringing the outskirts. With a leap in my chest I saw that they has guard patrols out - something I'd never encountered before in any of my other missions. Maybe we did have a shot at catching them tonight.

With the blueprint memorised I skirted around the tree line, heading towards the East end of the building; avoiding the very handsome, black suit and tie body builders, and their shiny, very real guns. The back entrance didn't have any stationed guards, so using wire cutters on the metal ring fence went unnoticed. I slipped through as silently as possible, rushing over to the emergency exit, counting down in my head till the next guard patrol would make it around my side of the building. Holding Jeb's gadget up to the lock I waited for it to unlock, hearing an optamistic click as the alarm system disengauged and the door fell inwards.

Checking breifly down the corridor I saw that it was empty, lined with dozens of identical white doors.

I slipped through, closing the door gently behind me and mentally checking the blueprint; okay, second floor, sixth door on the left. I needed to close down all exits, set the alarm off so Ari and his backup could catch all Itex workers (hopefully before they wiped any data or legged it).

I headed off, silently speeding down the corridors towards the stair well. I passed countless white doors and dark windows, all the rooms empty as most Itex employees had left. I found the stairwell empty too, and thankful they only had outside security I raced up the flights. Getting to the second floor I slipped into another empty corridor, knowing the door I needed was right at the end.

The fourth door down the hallway however, stood slightly ajar, artificial light spilling through the crack of the door.

Lowering my stance a little I crept towards it, pulling out my small tranquilliser gun - though the Institute thought I was big enough to practice with real guns, they didn't trust me with one on a mission.

I peered through the crack of the door, straining my ears for sounds of life in the room, but all I could hear was the humming of the computer. Raising my tranq gun to chest height, I nudged the door open slowly, slipping into the empty room, and seeing only a computer, logged onto some account. Someone was obviously was here, and someone with one of the highest levels of authority, according to the tab at the bottom of the screen.

I glanced at the door, wondering how soon the user would be back. After all the screen hadn't gone to sleep so the worker couldn't have left all that long ago.

Not that it mattered, my mission was to find the control room two doors down, set off the building's alarm. That was my orders.

But what if I could find out more about my mission? More then the Institute were telling me? More about Itex, about Max? I knew Jeb wouldn't hide something from me on purpose, but...

What if Jeb was in danger too...there couldn't be any harm in looking...

Feeling a little like I'd just become a rogue agent, I walked over to the monitor; grabbing the mouse and opening up the Itex database, searching for anything on Max. Just as I found a file labeled 'EXPERIMENT 1- MAXIMUM - AVIAN HUMAN HYBRID' there was the sound of a door closing in the hallway, and footsteps quietly rushing down the corridor outside.

My heart leapt into my mouth, and closing the database quickly I dodged around and behind the desk, crouching out of sight as the door opened. I heard it close, then hurried footsteps, someone leaning over the computer and clicking, typing. Carefully, and very slowly, I raised my tranq gun, peering around the corner of the desk at the figure. But as I laid eyes on her I stood up straight, pocketing the gun,

"Max?" Almost faster then I could track Max vaulted over the desk, colliding with me and grabbing a fist full of my hair, probably to try and knock me out. But my instincts kicked in and I pulled out of her grip, leaping back a step and holding up my hands in surrender, whisper shouting, "Max I'm not going to hurt you, it's me!" But she didn't seem to hear me.

I ducked the right hook she sent towards my chin, throwing myself out of the way of the kick that followed, resorting to getting down on my knees to show I wasn't a threat. I raised my voice,

"I'm not going to fight you, please, just calm down!"

"Mavrik," a voice called from outside. My stomach dropped, realising too late I'd spoken way louder then spy protocol advised. Great. An Itex employee. Now we're in trouble.

Or rather I was in big trouble; Max, seemed more on the ball then I was. She'd turned tail and run before I could come up with any split-second strategy. I ran after her, following as she slipped out the room, running away from the shadowy figure that'd emerged from the control office. I heard him yell behind us,

"Hey! Who's there?!"

But the both of us had turned the corner. Patches of blue moonlight filtered in through the translucent chicken wire windows, and a wailing sound of the alarm echoed along the halls.

Well, there goes my spy career.

Beneath the deafening siren I caught the sound of doors and windows locking down. I sped up, Max streaking a little way ahead of me, faster then I'd imagined, forcing me use every inch of speed and stamina the Institute had given me. In the next corridor I managed to catch up to her, yelling over the sirens,

"I know a way out, follow me!" Max ignored me, yelling back,

"I can handle myself!" But in unison we both skidded to a holt. Three men in black suits appeared at the far end of the corridor, and running right at us, the middle one barking,

"Remember - experiment one stays alive!" In sync the both of us changed direction, backtracking the way we'd just come, skidding to a stop after several paces as two more men in black rounded our end of the corridor. Max threw herself at the window, kicking out at it when it wouldn't budge. But all that happened was a painful rebound. I knew better the to try and kick open an escape route too - the debrief mentioning that they had bullet proof windows.

Flight was clearly out. Now it was time to fight.

I looked back at Max, unsure what was going to happen but promising, "I've got your back." Max gave me a confused expression, but turned away from me, falling into a battle stance and facing the three Erasers running towards her, still in human form. Thankful that none of them seemed to have guns I turned, facing the two at the other end of the corridor.

I'd never fought an Eraser before. Jeb's file told me that they were strong, smelly, attractive in disguise, but more dangerous then any fighter alive. I'll tell you right now, those files really didn't give the Erasers enough credit.

I took two steps toward the two men running at us, jumping forwards into a flying roundhouse kick, the largest one deflecting it like he was swatting away a fly. Landing securely I barely dodged his punch, trying to hit a pressure point with a counter kick, reaching for my tranq gun. It would've worked if there was only one of them.

As it happened, I managed to knock idiot uno to the ground, but the other Eraser yanked my arms behind my back, just short of dislocating them. I winced, stamping down on his foot to no effect - the grip on my arms remained concrete. I swung my heel up into his groin, only getting half a second of him loosening his hold to pull free.

I turned around, reaching for my gun and shooting at point blank range, the dart lodging in his nose.

He yelped and I managed to swing a square punch at him, before the Eraser I'd kicked to the floor grabbed my legs. He flung me against the wall and I collided, face first, into the concrete. A warm gush of blood ran from my nostrils like a tap, and I backed up groggily, head spinning.

The Eraser was back on his feet now, my tranq gun half way between the both of us. He looked really pissed of - there was no way in hell I was going to beat him with brute strength. Shooting was all I had left.

I pounced on the gun, scooping it up as the Eraser grabbed me, lifting me up by the lapels of my shirt and shoving me against the wall. My head collided with the white concrete again, my vision going slightly foggy as blood dripped into my mouth and down my chin, splattering on the floor as I pushed the tranq gun against his ribs, shooting twice.

He socked me once in the stomach, batting the gun out of my hands but dropping me as the anaesthetic kicked in. I lent against the wall, watching him collapse, feeling sick like I'd been kicked in the balls, but as Max cried out in pain I looked around.

It took a lot more then I'd like to admit to get a grip on myself, and relying on adrenaline I staggered over to my gun, pushing down the waves of nausea. With my two Erasers taken out I took aim at one of Max's three dogs. I hit one in the side of the head, missing my other two shots, and as Max was forced into a full nelson I resorted to yelling out,

"OY!" The Eraser with his fist raise stopped, distracted like he'd just seen a squirrel, his buddy that I'd shot in the head loosing consciousness. Max clearly wasn't going anywhere, wriggling in the Erasers grip while his buddy ran at me, getting shot twice in the stomach before he could do much damage. In fact, by the time he'd gotten to me, the most he could do was fall on me - which, though fairly harmless, was incredibly effective at flattening all the air out my lungs.

I crawled out from underneath him, gasping as I got to my feet, spitting out blood and reloading - looking up just in time to see Max's Eraser inches from me. I didn't have time to even take aim before his huge hands grabbed me, holding my ribs like I was a football, claws slicing shallowly into my sides as he whisked me off my feet.

Spinning on his heel he flung me down the hall, back in Max's direction, and I hit the ground hard. I rolled, Max jumping over me and back into the fray. I got back up as fast as I could without throwing up, almost glad that I'd sparred a lot with Ari and was used to being chucked around like a chew toy.

Looking up I saw Max land a good roundhouse before flooring him, knocking the Eraser out with a drop kick to the head. She wiped a bit of blood off her top lip, breathing heavily, looking up as I cleared my throat (my words all blubbery thanks to my bloody nose),

"Come on, I know a way out." She still didn't look convinced and I swayed unsteadily on the spot, leaning on the wall for support, as I tried to convince her, "look, I've been over the blue prints of this place, we can access the vents three corridors over. It'll avoid all the Erasers and we'll be out in five minutes." Max stared at me,

"How do you know they were Erasers?" I scowled at her,

"Can't we talk about this later? I don't feel up to fighting off another pack of these things." Max scowled, considering me for a moment, but at the sound of distant howling she muttered,

"Fine. Lead the way."

I nodded, taking a deep breath and falling into a wobbly jog. We followed a few corridors, luckily clean of both humans and Erasers, Max keeping look out when we reached the maintenance room, and I unlocked the door. Holding Jeb's gadget to the card reader I saw a green light before hearing the sound of the lock drawing back.

We slipped inside, closing the door as the sounds of a fresh pack of Erasers, arguing over their fallen hounds, echoed faintly down the corridor.

Spotting a crow bar on one of the shelves I grabbed it, heading over to the large vent and ramming the straight end into the small gap between the metal and the wall. Half a minute and three sore fingers later, the mangled plate fell to the ground and I dropped the crowbar. I went first, bending down and crawling through, checking a few metres in to see that Max was (thankfully) following. We made a right, two lefts, and another right before anything went drastically wrong - drastic being the key word.

We'd crawled over numerous vents in the floor, and through the grate I could see the ground floor rooms. I passed over all of them without a problem; but when Max crawled over the third one it suddenly came loose. With a loud clang and a yell, she fell through.

I backtracked, crawling carefully over the gaping hole in the floor and looking down to see Max pushing herself back up, wincing.

"You okay?" I whispered. Max winced as she got back up, looking around the room and suddenly freezing.

"Fang," she said in a low tone, "get me out."

The vent was too high for me to reach down and pull her back up, so I carefully dropped down, landing in a crouch beside her, holding a hand to my head as it started spinning. She stared at me as I crouched in front of her, hands locked and ready to boost her up into the vent again.

"What are you doing?!" she said hoarsely, "You won't be able to get out!"

"You need to get out more then I do!" I snapped. Max gave me a half-confused, half-pissed-off look, but the entire argument fell cold as there was a hissing sound from above us, and pink gas began to float down through the vent.

There goes our exit.

I looked around for other options, struck dumb for a second as I realised that we hadn't just fallen into a room - we'd fallen into a freaking jail cell. And it was nothing like the ones you see in old western movies; there was no bed, no toilet, and no evidence of anyone having been it's previous occupant, only squeaky clean floors and barred walls. What kind of research did they do here?!

I thought the file had said it was for studying dead psychos, not a place for live disection?!

Max gave the door a strong kick but the heavy electronic box kept it locked tight. I ushered her back, trying Jeb's device to hack the lock; but it was like the gadget didn't want to recognise that the lock was there. I coughed a little, feeling dizzier as Max kicked the door again, stumbling back with the rebound. Thankfully my brain seemed able to give me one last resort plan and I fumbled for the heavy dog tag around my neck. Jeb had originally given me the ¼ inch thick tag when I'd complained about not having an ID badge - seeing as everyone else at the institute had them. The Higher ups insisted I didn't need one, after all, I hardly did anything but train at the Institute; but Jeb had made one for me all the same, one that I could even wear undercover, using the excuse of issuing equipment. And the little gadget inside the dog tag might just proove useful.

I bent down in front of the lock, getting Max to back off as I slid the top face of the dog tag forwards, pressing the tiny button on the back. The laser hissed as it hit the metal and I closed my eyes, squinting every now and again to check I was actually cutting through the lock. The pink cloud filling the room was starting to make me feel dizzy, and the acrid smell of burning plastic mixing with it's sickly sweet smell didn't help, but in a few seconds the door fell onto its hinges and swung wide. Max grabbed my arm, pulling me out the cell and kicking the wooden door out of its frame, the both of us falling out into the corridor in a fit of coughing.

My eyes were watering as we both swayed a little on the spot, Max steadying me as I almost fell over.

"Which," she coughed, "way?"

She pulled me upright, an arm around my back for support, and thankfully I recognised where we were. Just a few corridors over from the door I'd used to get inside Itex. With me steering, and Max half-dragging me down the corridor, we lumbered off. I could've probably walked without much help, but it wouldn't have been that fast what with me seeing double.

The emergency exit door was ajar when we got to it, and we hung back a little, scoping out where the Erasers were. The entire grounds looked empty - Ari and the Institute must've taken care of them. Max dragged me outside, more because I wasn't going fast enough for her liking rather then I needed the support as we ran over to the opening I'd cut in the fence..

We squeezed through my vision mostly settled as we broke into a run, Max taking the lead and not stopping for what felt like miles.

When we finally slowed down again I was panting, hard, glad the Institute had included stamina training in my regime, but surprised as we slowed to a walk and saw Max was barely out of breath.

"Max?" I huffed between breaths. She walked on ahead of me, not answering. I grimaced, clutching my side, "Max come on, talk to me for a second?" She stopped dead, turning around and glaring at me, her glare sharp enough to squash fruit at a range of 20ft. I tried to reach out, reassuringly,

"Are you o-" she flinched as my hand touched her shoulder and I stared at her, finishing awkwardly, "kay?" She ignored my question, taking a step back from me,

"What were you doing in there?" I rubbed my neck nervously, looking down at my feet,

"Er…trying to infiltrate an Itex facility. What were you- oof" I was cut off as Max punched me in the stomach. Before I could react she twisted me around and pushed me face first into the dirt, arm locked behind my back as she pinned me to the forest floor.

"Who the hell are you?!" She growled, "How do you know about Itex?!" Feeling like a pretty damn pathetic representative of the well-mannered Institute, I offered with nasally voice,

"I'm part of an Initiative trying to take Itex down." Max scoffed,

"And this initiative thought taking this place would be a one-man job?"

"I was just the recon team, to check they were there. We've had five failed hits and they wanted to be sure it was the real deal before sending in the cavalry - my people were waiting for me to send the place into lockdown so they could attack. There aren't any Erasers left outside," I finished thickly, "So maybe they managed it..." Max seemed to consider my words for a second.

Eventually, giving me the benefit of the doubt, or more likely realising I wasn't in any state to be a threat, she got off me. She stood back as I pushed myself up, swaying slightly and gripping a tree heavily for support to keep my balence.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," she said coldly, "but I've already scoped the place. There's nothing in there. It's a decoy." I stared at her, confused,

"But there were so many Erasers outside...why would they have them guarding-"

"I don't know what your Initiative knows about Itex" she said, cutting me off sharply, "but they churn out Erasers like fast food - there's sure as hell enough to station at old facilities..." she sighed, running a hand through her hair, frowning "but that's probably my fault - this is the 23rd base I've hit so far, they're probably trying to catch me out, stationing them at places they no longer use."

There was a moment of silence, and I stared at Max. She was wearing her jacket, and though there were slits in the back of it I couldn't see her wings. I can't tell her I know yet, one step at a time Fang.

"Do you think we could work together?" I asked slowly. Max stared at me in disbelief,

"Why would I want to do that?" I shrugged,

"I assume we're both trying to stop Itex, and also we're apparently going about it in the same way. We're bound to bump into each other at some point if your searching their facilities." Max looked at me cautiously,

"Why are you even trying anyway?"

"I just told you, I want to stop-"

"Yeah, but what's in it for you? If they're stopped." I grimaced,

"If I have the power to do something, to stop them from hurting people, I feel like I've got to do it..." I hestiated a second, creating a cover for Max to make her feel more comfortable, "I mean, that's why you're doing it, isn't it?" Max shrugged but looked a little less up tight, squinting as she looked me up and down, taking in my spy gear,

"So, what, this Initiative picked you up off the street?"

"My step Mum used to work for them - a few of her higher up friends thought I had potential." Max raised her eyebrows slightly, and with her gaurd dropped I tried for some information, wondering if she'd reveal what was on her back now she knew we were on the same side, "What about you? Personal grudge?"

"You could say that." I bit my lip, feeling a little dejected that she still didn't feel comfortable to spread her wings...but that was her secret, and I wasn't going to push her. I nodded, looping back around,

"So…did you want to work together?" Max kicked the ground distractedly, thinking on it for a second before saying defiantly,

"My people will contact your people about it." I frowned at her,

"Who are you working with?" Max snorted,

"The government, you'll know them if they call." She walked away from me, further into the trees, and I watched as the night and trees swallowed her from sight. I heard a rustling a fair way off, and though I couldn't see through the tree canopy, I knew she'd just taken to the sky.

Max was helping the government? She couldn't be, I was working for the government. Was she in danger? If she was, she'd have to tell them about her wings, or with the CIA and satilites they'd find out...is that how Jeb knew about how deeply she was involved? But it still didn't make sense, if she was working with the government she'd have to visit them or give them some sort of intel - yet Jeb said they had no data on what she knew.

What was going on...?

* * *

**What's that you say? A factoid? A chapterly factoid? Well I suppose I could impart such information pour vor vou...**

**A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second  
Just in case you really want to sound scientific and overly British :P *twists moustache helpfully***

**Thanks for reading you wonderful little internet person :)  
Fly on,  
M**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:  
Dating and Dirty Work

* * *

Ari (A-jax) POV

The doors of the lift opened and I stepped out in the underground level of the school - or, as Fang would call it, Dad's office at the Institute. Dad was sitting at his desk, his glasses lop sided on his face, drinking his coffee like he'd been awake for the last three days. He looked up as I entered, sitting back with a small, tired smile as I stalked over to the front of his desk,

"Morning Ari." I drew up a chair from the corner of the room. Dad yawned, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. I frowned at him,

"They didn't keep you up all night did they?" He gave a breathy laugh,

"Oh, well, with how Fang's mission went can you blame them?" I frowned, tilting my chair back on two legs,

"That's not your fault. I don't get why they shoulder Max's capture all on you. Dr Hagen said himself he would jump at the chance for your job." Jeb shook his head,

"No. I can do it - I have faith in Fang." He picked up one of many sheets of paper littering his desk and scribbled something else down as I asked,

"What your next move?" Dad looked up, looking dazed and confused, and fighting the urge to be patronising, I clarified, "with capturing Max and Fang?" Jeb took a deep breath, shrugging and I rolled my eyes, "I don't see why we can't just take 'em by force-"

"No." Jeb said quickly, snapping my patience,

"Well why the hell not?!"

"Language Ari," he said quietly, but I spoke over him,

"Look, how is Fang buddying up with Max going to do anything to help? We can't kidnap Max to reel Fang in, cause you seem to thing she's too strong - even though three Erasers were enough to finish her off. And we can't kidnap Fang, unless we offer his life for hers - and she wouldn't fall for that anyway. But, if we took them both on, seeing as Fang's gadgets don't actually work, with enough Erasers, we'd have them back here in hours" Dad pursed his lips,

"I'm not hurting either of-"

"WHY!? Dr Hagen told me it's Max's fault they made me into this thing! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!" Dad screwed up his eyes for a second, dropping his paper work and looking up at me seriously,

"Ari, that's enough-" but I was on a roll,

"What d'you think Mum would want?! Hagen told me she died because of Max! Why are you so against laying a finger on her, it's a load of bullsh-" The door connecting to the labs slid open and I stopped, mid-sentence, Dr Hagen himself steeping into the room, his voice resonating in his throat,

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" I stood up straight, to attention, not looking at Hagen - I wasn't angry with him in the slightest.

I'd come to terms with the fact that he'd had no choice but to hurt me, to turn me into an Eraser. Forcing out Max's bullcrap promises hadn't been painless, but unlike her he'd never let me down or faithed to protect me. He told me more about Mum, about why I ended up at Itex, then Jeb ever would too.

"I apologise Doctor," Dad explained, "Ari and I were having a small disagreement - nothing to worry about." I felt Dr Hagen's gaze boring through the back of my head, and automatically began to slide into the respectful military position they'd taught me while I was in combat training.

"Well…" Dr Hagen said, stepping further into the room, "your son seemed very...passionate in his views. What did this all concern?"

"We were discussing Mission Fallen Angel, Ari has some strong ideas about our next course of action." Shiny shoes came into my field of view and a hand clapped on my shoulder strongly,

"Well Batchelder, if you waste much more of our time, at least we'll have another candidate ready to resolve the whole situation." I looked up at Dr Hagen, shocked, but his eyes were focused on Dad.

"...Yes sir" Dad ground out, Dr Hagen chuckling silently,

"Tell you what, since I'm feeling so generous, I'll give you another two weeks. After that time, you will report your findings to me, and, if we still have a negative result, we'll have to consider implementing other options." he smiled at me, "we shall talk later of your ideas young man." I nodded minutely, trying to stand tall as he turned, sweeping from the room impressively.

Dad let out a barely there sigh as the door swished shut, running a hand through his hair and beginning to sort through papers again. How could someone so dedicated not be able to work out a plan of attack?

"Dad?" I asked, his head jerking up. "How did Fang and Max actually get out?" Jeb looked back down at his papers, shuffling them distractedly,

"No idea."

"None of his equipment works. Sure, the tranq gun is loaded, and that belt was to test whether he's gaining any mutant potential, but the gadget that opens doors is a piece of art. We open and shut all the doors he uses on those missions - make it feel real for him. The only locks he could pick were simple ones, and the cell door had a key card system..." Dad sighed,

"I…forgot about his dog tags…there's a laser in it…he has it for emergencies and I forgot about it. It's my fault. That's why I've been up all night working - they found out it was my fault and I didn't have much choice but to come in." I scowled,

"You know, it'd be safer if we went ahead with my plan. If Fang gets too close to Max they'll end up teaming up. And that's the last thing you need." Dad grimaced,

"I- look, I'll handle it before that happens. I can do this, I'm sure of it now that we have a little more time..."

* * *

MAX POV

I sat bolt upright in the darkness, heart pounding and skin clammy, reality seeping back into my senses again. I screwed up my eyes, falling back onto my pillow - trying to scrub the image of Ari's face off the backs of my eyelids.

It'd been a week since I'd met Fang at that Itex base - but, much to my surprise, he hadn't changed at all. In fact, he seemed to be acting normally, even occasionally smiling. I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad sign.

I'd visited more Itex labs, saved only three more mutants who were recovering on the CSM, and luckily I hadn't had to fight too brutally since that night with Fang; and man, for a human, he had some moves, sure the tranq gun might've helped, but most humans wouldn't be able to manage fighting an Eraser if they had a real gun.

I'd been over it, trying to work out any other explanations; was he a mutant, was he a robot, an Eraser even (though for an Eraser he smells damn good)...but if he was one of these psychos out to kill me, he'd have had plenty of chance to do it by now. He wouldn't just sit there looking pretty.

I was starting to think that maybe he just was different. Maybe good things could happen to bird kids...I mean, look at Iggy and Ella.

I sat up again, trying to push it all to the back of my mind and pulling back one of the curtains. Sunlight was barely creeping over the horizon. Perfect. Too restless to get any more sleep I got up, pulling on my flight gear and opening the window...

* * *

I was back in a few hours, most of the dangerous thoughts blown out my head now the sun had risen higher in the sky, and hearing the clattering of plates downstairs I trotted to the bathroom for a quick shower before breakfast.

Slipping on a pair of jeans, and one of my t-shirts that let my wings free I followed my nose and the smell of bacon downstairs. If I'd been an Eraser, I would've probably morphed out just to wag my tail as Dr M greeted me with a mountain of bacon, eggs, and toast.

I thanked her, as did my stomach with a bubbling whine, sitting down next to Rob, who was going over some CSM papers. Between mouthfuls we talked over the possibilities of new Itex branches, only stopping when Ella came bounding downstairs in a towel, asking Dr M's opinion on today's outfit choice. She ended up dragging her mother upstairs, and I turned to Rob, opening my mouth to ask what she was so frantic about, only for Rob to shake his head silently.

I snorted a little, carrying on with CSM buisness till I'd finished my breakfast, but having to leave Rob for the homework that had piled up after all Itex scouting I'd done over the last few weeks. I dragged myself upstairs, closing the door tiredly and flicking my radio on, sitting down to do the bare minimum of homework for the best part of an hour - wings unfurled and lying as limply as my enthusiasm for triganometry.

With my last set of questions done I pulled out Dr M's laptop, continuing my Itex research and adding in Rob's new info, getting so engrossed that even my bird senses didn't pick up on someone standing outside my door.

"Yo Max?" I jumped feet, slamming my laptop shut on one of my hands, flaring my wings out ready to take flight. But from the otherside of the door I heard Fang asking, "can I come in?" Exhaling a little to try and calm down I grabbed a loose hoodie, tucked my wings in and pulled it on - checking they were hidden in the mirror, and scanning the floor for stray feathers before opening my door.

Fang stood in the doorway, hands in the pockets of his usual plain black attire, smiling at a little awkwardly.

"Hey," I said slowly, "...what are you doing here?" Fang grimaced,

"Nudge came over for Ella - I thought you might want some company." I rubbed the back of my neck subconsciously, keeping up a small smile and nodding,

"Oh…right. Yeah. Sure." Ella's door swung open and the both of us looked down the hallway as Nudge appeared, singing gleefully and skipping towards us. She pushed Fang out the way and threw herself at me in a hug. I flinched instinctively, pulling my wings in achingly tight as she gripped me tightly, drawing back with a squeal,

"Max! Oh, man, this is so exciting…" she bounced back a few steps, Ella walking down the hall looking even prettier then usual. I raised my eyebrows,

"You look nice. What's the occasion?" Ella smiled sheepishly,

"I have a date."

"With Iggy," Nudge finished happily. My mouth fell open,

"You…" I gaped at her, raising my voice a little, "you guys are actually dating now?" Ella smiled bashfully,

"Well, since today…" For the first time in my life, I actually squealed, doing a fabulous impression of Nudge and throwing myself at Ella in a hug,

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Ella patted my back gently,

"Well…it's Iggy. I didn't know if you'd approve considering what you've both…" Nudge pushed us apart,

"Wait, you don't mean Iggy and Max have history." I screwed up my face,

"Ew, no! We used to live in the same…neighbourhood. We just went through some stuff together - we're pretty close." I stood back dumbly, "In fact, I don't know who to threaten more about hurting each other." I scratched my head thoughtlessly, Ella rolled her eyes,

"I'd better go, if I don't wanna be late."

"Hey, wait!" I said, going after her, "I'll walk you there - I need to give him a big speech about not hurting you and stuff, that's what they do in the movies right?" Ella didn't turn around but I could hear her smile in the mutter of,

"Fine." I grinned, turning around and waving a hand at Fang,

"You guys coming?" Nudge grinned,

"Yeah, Mum's picking me up in town anyway - we'll can do some shopping!" She bounded down the stairs, and Fang gave me a horrified look at the prospect of being dragged around town by Nudge. I grimaced at him,

"No shopping?" He nodded sharply and sighed, trudging down the stairs with a wide eyed look, as Nudge started singing from the front door...

* * *

We walked into to town, chatting idly, stopping a quarter of an hour later a block away from the town centre, just outside the park gates. Ella left us at the gate, expressly forbidding me to talk to Iggy before the date, and Nudge ran off to shop to her heart's content. That left Fang and I, looking across the park, seeing Iggy offering Ella his hand. My heart swelled as she took it, lacing their fingers together as he led her away towards town. I sighed.

Dang I hope it goes well...and that no Erasers show up and kill the vibe.

Crap I hadn't even thought about that. What if they took the both of them? What if they saw Ella with Iggy and assumed it was the key to catching a couple bird kids, maybe even a new subject. I looked up at Fang, eyeing him carefully, and he frowned down at me, using an accusatory tone of voice,

"What are you thinking?" I squinted at him,

"How would you feel about seeing that everything goes to plan?" Fang looked confused and I grimaced, "you know, check nothing can interfere with their date?" He raised his eyebrows,

"You're going to stalk you sister on a date?" I frowned sarcastically,

"Well I'm thinking something more low key then putting on a moustache and dressing up as a waiter." He snorted,

"I don't know about your people, but mine have never made me do that." I raised my eyebrows,

"Lucky for you, my people believe in the ways of the ninja and following from afar. So you in?" He looked around, as if trying to figure out a way to get out of this, but eventually his shoulders sunk in resignation,

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but fine. Lead the way sensei." I grinned, punching him very lightly in the shoulder in thanks and heading into a light jog - slow enough for a human to easily keep up. Iggy and Ella had vanished through the opposite gate, and I dodged all the jumping, frolicking, and screaming children playing on the grass, as we crossed the park.

Reaching the gate I held it open for Fang, looking both ways along the street, and spotting a tall head of ginger hair disappearing around the corner. I did a quick 360 scan for threats, checked I had Fang on my heels, then set off at a jog again down the street - pausing at the corner to check we didn't get too close.

We followed them down a few more roads before Iggy escorted Ella inside a coffee shop. I led Fang over, peeking in the cafe's window for a few seconds longer then your average ninja, Fang warning me as I stared,

"Careful, she'll see you," I grimaced, not wanting to say I needed to check for particularly attractive men drinking coffee, but unsure how to phrase it. I drew back slightly to see him frowning at me, "look, Max, I have a sister - and I know if that was Nudge in there, then she would eat me alive if she caught me within half a mile of where she was having a date."

I chewed on my bottom lip thinking, turning back to the window only to see Iggy and Ella walking back out the door. Iggy was focusing on holding the door open for Ella, but Miss Martinez had Ella focused a soul dissolving look on me.

Okay, so maybe Fang knew what he was talking about.

I quickly scoped my escape routes but there was no where to hide on the bare street, no where we could run where it wouldn't look like we'd been following them. Thankfully, Fange seemed to have a plan.

Quickly and lightly he guided my back up against the wall of the coffee shop, my hands raising up against his chest as he stepped in closer. I stared in confusion asHe covered my mouth with the hand furthest from Iggy, pressing his lips against his fingers like they did to kiss in the movies, his free hand hovering at my waist.

"Max?" I heard Iggy ask, Ella clearing her throat and Fang breaking away from me smoothly, standing closer then usual and smiling at them both. Ella gave us both a stoney look but Iggy was beaming, "what are you guys doing here?" Fang took the lead, slightly red in the face as he lied smoothly,

"Oh we're just going out for some lunch aren't we angel?" his tone was hilariously sugary, and coming from Fang it was a little unnerving, but I didn't have much time to think about it as Iggy said,

"I didn't realise you two were dating?" I smiled at him, leaning as close to Fang as my personal bubble would allow, trying to laugh but only coming up with a feeble giggle,

"Oh, yeah…you know…" I could feel my ears heating up as I trailed off, Ella cutting anything else I had to say short,

"Well, we're off, have a nice lunch won't you?" she smiled at the both of us, sweetly, glancing back at Iggy who had an arm looped around her waist,

"Hey, why don't we go have lunch together," Iggy said, "I'm taking Ells to the fair ground afterwards but we could find a nice place to eat."

I shook my head, noting Ella's expression and saying quickly, "Nah. It wouldn't be safe with all our appetites. Thanks for the invite though." Iggy nodded, raising a hand,

"Sure thing, see you around then." I nodded, raising a hand and Iggy steered Ella around, the both of them walking further into the centre of town. Fang and I stood there, watching them go, and when they were out of ear shot I turned to see a still red Fang saying,

"Sorry about all that. Just wanted to make sure they didn't think we were following them," I laughed emptily,

"I think Ella might've killed me if you hadn't." Fang smirked,

"You want to actually go get something to eat then?" I opened my mouth but my stomach wailed at me before I could get any words out. Fang chuckled silently, "I'll take that as a yes...let's make it quick before you spontaneously combust." He hooked a hand around my shoulders, and I snorted him, saying in a sugary voice,

"Sure, I mean it's traditional for a guy to pay on a date, right?" He rolled his eyes,

"Nice try, but with the amount we both eat, I'd be broke for several millennia." I laughed, elbowing him in the side so that he released the arm around my neck,

"Fair enough..."

* * *

We ate lunch in town, Fang offering to stand in line as I got a seat. I handed over the money for my food and found a table by the fire exit in the corner, sitting down as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, bracing myself for a rant text in all capital letters from Ella, but finding instead a message for Iggy.

IGGY: So, you and Fang? Well I can't say I didn't see that coming...

I frowned down at the screen; _That was cause I was worried you'd be too loved up to be checking for Erasers - we were tailing you till you but you came out early, Ella looking like she was set to kill. Fang just took it upon himself to make it look like we weren't stalking you - y'know, hand over the mouth like in the movies._

IGGY: _You know you ramble when you're defensive?_

MAX: _What makes you think I'm being defensive - I'm explaining._

IGGY: _Explaining everything apart from the fact you were blushing while being that close to Fang. I was blind a while ago, but my vision's pretty damn good now max ;)_

MAX:_ He's human._

IGGY: _He likes you._

MAX: _What makes you say that?_

IGGY: _See now you're curious._

MAX:_ No I'm not._

IGGY:_ Alright, let's say you're right. But as far as Fang knows, I'm human, and now think you're dating. So you guys are going to have to pretend you're going out, so that Fang thinks you're fooling me, and so you can please Ella._

MAX:_ I'm not pretending to go out with Fang. We just happened to break up this weekend._

IGGY_: oh, sure, you'd both be single, but you'd also still flirt at the lunch table._

MAX:_ we don't flirt at the lunch table!  
_

IGGY:_ Max, we grew up in a cage, not a barn - you flirt and he flirts back._

MAX:_ I'm not having this conversation._

IGGY:_ Fine, have fun on your lunch date 'angel' ;P_

I opened Ella's contact, texting her_; Ella slap your boyfriend for me, he's being rude._

ELLA: _HOW ABOUT YOU SLAP YOUR BOYFRIEND FOR ALL THE PDA IN THE MIDDLE OF MY FIRST DATE!_

I felt a pang of guilt, hoping their date was going well, but also slightly confused as Fang brought our food over...

* * *

ARI POV

I watched from behind the corner of the street. Iggy (subject 3) and the Ella girl reappeared from the coffee shop, and Fang pushed Max against the wall...kissing her.

Fang pulled back, the four of them striking up a conversation, his cheeks a little red.

I stared at him. What the hell was that? Fang didn't blush…he's always been able to pull up an emotionless mask, he's trained for it...unless he wants to get _that_ close to her.

And in that case, Mission Fallen Angel could be compromised. I pressed a finger over my radio,

"Dr Hagen?" there was a crackle, then a beep,

"Yes my boy?" I took a deep breath, hoping what I was about to say would take the stress off of Dad's back a little.

"We need to have a chat about mission fallen angel - Fang may be compromised..."

* * *

**And let the ship set sail :P  
Now, may I present to you a chapterly dose of a fairly-abstract-sort-of-intresting factoid...**

**Porcupines and hedgehogs float in water.  
**

**Thanks for reading through this chapter you pretty little homosapien :P  
Fly on,  
M **


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome, young stranger, to the first update of Mission Fallen Angel.  
Before we begin, I would like to call to your attention all the people doing multiple 'whiz bang' things after the last chapter;**

**Thanks to the Remarkable Reviewers****:  
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FaxFiction**

**The Fabulous Favouriters****:  
Scarylulaby**

**And the Awesome Alerters****:  
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**Thanking you all very muchly :D Now, without further ado, read on thou radical peoples of FanFiction...**

* * *

Chapter 6:  
The Empire Strikes Back  
(An Itex Rewrite)

* * *

Fang POV

Max had beaten me to Music on Monday morning. When I walked in I found her sitting patiently on the piano stool, sheet music on the stand, looking as relaxed as she could be whilst still being...well, Max.

I closed the door behind me, walking over to her and dropping my bag beside me. She gave me a tight smile as I sat down and I smiled back, remembering how different this had all been at the start of the school term.

After an hour or so of piano playing we got dismissed for lunch, and Max and I left for the canteen together.

As we walked through the corridors, I started getting uneasy, hairs standing up on the back of my neck like I was being watched. Whispers seemed to be following us as we walked, the kind that got quieter the closer you get, and I definately caught the mumblings of our names. I would've easily ignored it if it wasn't for Max, but her attempts at conversation were slowly withering the longer we walked, her posture stiffening every time we passed any gossipers. I was about to ask if she was okay when she cut across me, talking through gritted teeth,

"I think Iggy might've spread the news that we're supposed to be dating..." she lowered her voice slightly, "though why everyone is so interested-"

She stopped short of what she was going to say, visibly tensing as we passed a group of giggling girls, a couple of them staring at us as we walked by. I clenched my jaw, mentally punching myself.

Nice job Fang, force a fake relationship on her...because getting people to stare at her is going to make her feel so much more comfortable then a sisterly rant.

"Sorry" I tried, awkwardly.

"Why are you sorry?" she snapped, "Iggy's the one who's gonna be sorry when I get ahold of him..." I raised my eyebrows,

"You're really going to beat him up, for spreading around something _he thinks_ he saw?" Max's ears went red and she closed her mouth resiliently. I hesitated a second before asking unsurely,

"...Did you end up telling Ella what actually happened?" Max paused for a second,

"...No...I didn't." I raised my eyebrows,

"Are you going to?" Max ran a hand through her hair,

"I...haven't decided yet...I mean...Ella might..." Max fidgeted around, apparently trying to find the right words, but running a hand through her hair again, all she said was, "...it's complicated." I frowned (not that Max saw, she was determined not to look at me) but feeling like I needed to straighten out what was supposed to be happening, I pushed on,

"So...what? We pretend?" Max tilted her head but didn't say anything, and walking slightly in front of me as we entered the canteen she began avoiding conversation as well as eye-contact, leading the way to the queue for food.

Okay, now I understand why being quiet annoyed people.

I tried to ignore the eyes on the back of my head as we got our food, following Max over to our table and sitting down opposite Nudge, who briefly stopped babbling away to Ella to say hi. Iggy looked up to give us both a small wave, and with the knowing look he gave the both of us I scooted slightly closer to Max - making sure to maintain enough distance so I didn't make her uncomfortable.

Max however didn't seem to mind at all, shuffling even closer, sitting so close our legs were pressing together, her familiar, fake smile popping up as Ella grinned at her,

"Word's travelled fast about you and Fang." Max grabbed my hand from my lap, holding up like she was trying to prove we'd been hiding the gesture under the table,

"Er…yeaaah. Got a lot of odd looks on the way here," Iggy rolled his eyes, his arm slung around Ella's waist,

"That'll be A-jax...he's been slagging you two off all morning - trust me, you don't want to know most of it" Max closed her eyes tightly but Iggy held up a hand reassuringly, "don't worry...I set him straight, told them all how it is...how much of a good match you were. I think they're just still buzzing with the rumours..." I looked down at Max to gauge her reaction of this and she sighed, looking up at me as she felt my gaze. I held her eye contact for a second, not really sure what I was looking for in her face, and Max raised her eyebrows at me, asking accusatively,

"...What?" I didn't answer, and feeling a lurch in my stomach I shook my head and turned away from her, busying myself with my food as Nudge and Ella started another quick fire conversation...

* * *

Max POV

Mine and Fang's staged relationship seemed to be going well by the time the weekend rolled around.

All we had to do was hold hands when Iggy was around; though that did end up escalating to constant hand holding, as the stupid ginger made a habit of popping up in the corridors, asking why we didn't have our fingers intertwined.

Prat.

I had of course lied to Fang. Both Iggy and Ella knew what my real relationship status was, and there'd be no problem in me ditching the title of girlfriend.

But I didn't.

I spent most of my time at school with Fang anyway (only now we also held hands when we hung out) and by the end of the week it started feeling kind of odd if I wasn't holding his hand. Course, that was just down to me getting used to the physical sensation of hand holding...at least that's what I kept telling myself. I did (almost) want to do that typical 'over-thinking-teenager' thing, but every nightmare with Ari weighed me down with guilt, reminding me how selfish it was to even think about how I liked holding Fang's hand. Ari was still trapped in hell, in God knows what kind of condition, and here I was trying not to fall for a human.

Either way, I tried to shove all those thoughts to the back of my head, but my tactic of ignoring this whole dating fiasco did have loopholes - one aspect being Dr M, Ella, and Iggy. Iggy, surprisingly, wasn't too invasive about the whole thing. Sure he didn't ignore it, but all he ended up doing was (what Ella called) 'the shipping of an innocent fangirl'. My dearest adopted sister on the other hand, wasn't quite so docile. Any chance she got for us to be alone she slipped into constant nagging, asking me to talk about what I thought I was doing, where I thought I was going, and what I really felt in my heart of hearts. I was beginning to think all those teachers asking you what you wanted to do with your life were less oppressive/annoying. Ella even tried to rope Dr M into it, but after a talk that concluded in me storming off to fly in bright daylight Dr M only told me that she only hoped I wasn't going to get myself hurt. I refused to think about that too.

All this, because I couldn't keep a few thoughts in check around Mr tall, dark and handso- ...see this is what I'm talking about.

And how did I resolve it I hear you ask dear reader? Well, the universe kindly decided to do it for me, booking me in for the Saturday afternoon that followed our first week of fake dating - though it went about it in a rather disasterous way.

Ella, Iggy, Nudge, Fang and I met up in front of a coffee shop, getting together to 'paint the town red' or whatever 'normal kids' did these days. Saturday was forecast to be that day of rain before beautiful sunshine. Lucky for Ella, Iggy had had the forethought to bring a large umbrella. Sure, to share it and still stay dry, he and Ella had to cuddle pretty, but it's not like either of them thought that was a problem. Nudge brought a smaller umbrella too, this one fit for one person, and that left Fang and I, in sodden hoodies. It was a perfectly reasonable choice to make with the weather earlier, but the drizzle was slowly turning into a downpour, and I was beginning to feel uncomfortably damp and cold.

The rain got harder and harder, and we'd barely reached the middle of town when Nudge started complaining about her lack of sensible footwear (rain be damned, her and Ella still insisted on taking the whole fashion thing pretty seriously). The rain didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon, and by now, most of us were feeling a little miserable wandering around in the wet. Ella thankfully suggested that we could all go back to the Martinez's to dry off - it was the closest of all our homes after all, and considering we'd have to walk back in the wet it made the most sense.

So, with the downpour beginning to drown out Nudge's motor mouth, we started our retreat; Fang and I still holding hands, fingers slipped into each others sleeves so that we could stay as dry as possible.

We were just reaching the outskirts of town when a lorry passed us, the driver speeding through the puddle on the road and sending a wave of rainwater rising up to meet us on the pavement. Those wielding their umbrellas deflected most of it, and by sheer dumb luck, Fang stood in the perfect position for me to act as his human shield.

I got drenched, pretty much solidly wet from the waist down, not funny when you're in jeans. Fang however seemed to find it hilarious, grinning at my disgruntled expression and using that awfully sugary sweet voice,

"Want my coat, angel?" I narrowed my eyes, pulling my hand from his and pushing him over into the nearest puddle. He fell butt first, and I cackled as he landed on the pavement with a sickening slop of muddy water.

"Here we go..." Ella muttered, Fang scrambling back to his feet in disgust and staring at me stonily.

I stuck out my tongue and flounced off, looking back over my shoulder to see him still glaring at me. I smirked, turning back around to walk along with the others. At the sound of splashing however I went with my gut, jumping forwards, avoiding what had been Fang's attempt to push me. I laughed at him tauntingly, jumping forwards into a run and dancing out of reach.

"We gonna meet you two back home then?!" Ella called out, neither of us answering as Fang launched after me in a sprint.

Slowing up enough for a human to catch up I took a hard left down a wide alley, the others vanishing from sight. I came out onto another small deserted street, the rain apparently keeping everyone inside and out of our way as we ran along the pavement. Somehow Fang caught up to me, grabbing me from behind in a bear hug, and I twisted in his arms, breaking out of his hold but toppling over backwards in the process.

A split second before I lost my footing Fang caught me around the waist, and I grabbed his shoulders for support, staring at that half smile,

"Now," He said quietly, looking down at the fairly deep puddle underfoot, "Are you going to apologise, or am I going to have to drop you?" I stared at him flately,

"I'm already soaked you idiot." He sighed, carelessly,

"Fine." Apparently trying to be threatening, he loosened his grip around my waist. But I gave Fang's shoulders an effortless tug, twisting us around as I floored him, cushioning his head with my hand so he didn't crack it on the pavement. He landed with a look of horror on the ground, staring at me as I lay on top of his chest, his hoodie soaking up the puddle water.

Puny human.

My laugh lasted barely a second before he pulled me closer, rolling over so that we switched places; with me lying on the puddle strewn pavement, water soaking through the back of my jeans and into my hair, my feathers growing sodden as my hoody got soaked.

I let out a sound of disgust, pushing myself up roughly, Fang sliding back to straddle my thighs with a smirk,

"Wet, isn't it?" I scowled, but he leant forwards, forehead butting into mine very gently. The rain began to hammer harder, drumming on the rooftops and the road as Fang stood up, water dripping off his nose as he offered me a hand up. I refused it, getting to my feet and shaking out my legs, trying to shift into a posture where my hoody didn't feel like a soggy cape.

A breeze swept through the street, blowing the rain towards us with frozen air, sending a shiver to run violently through my entire body. Fang's expression softened slightly, almost sounding concerned,

"We should get back - you're freezing." I raised my eyebrows proudly, starting to ache with cold, and Fang held out his arms like he wanted a hug, grinning sarcastically, "Course, I would offer you something dry to put on...but..." He trailed off, gesturing to his sopping wet clothing. I grinned at him, jerking around at the sound of a car's engine, but the van parked, though seeing the 'Learner' sticker on its bumper I didn't feel all that worried. Turning back to Fang I gave him a gentle shove in retaliation, gaining a roll of the eyes as he straightened up, falling into his usually stoic posture and reaching for my hand in an attempt to lead me back along the street.

But as a familiar deep voice echoed across the street, I felt my stomach drop sharply, my comfortable stance cracking and I spun on my heel, ready to fight as he called,

"Nice to see you've made some friends outside of school Maximum."

The figure was walking away from the van that'd just parked, and though he was a good way away from us I still dragged Fang behind me, arms raised slightly to bar him from the man walking towards us. Hands stuffed in his trouser pockets and teeth whiter then his rain spotted lab coat, Dr Gunther Hagen strutted towards us, looking between Fang and I and smiling like his food had just come at a restaurant.

How the hell did he find me? Had they found Iggy - was he now being faced with his white coat? If he was, Ella and Nudge were still with him - and if they'd made it back home already that could mean Itex now knows where the CSM director lives...

Dr Hagen looked over his shoulder, and I pushed back against Fang's attempts to stand in front of me. Clearly he was trying to be all macho, but Fang didn't know who this guy was, didn't know what he was capable of. I needed to get him out of here before he can find out...if Hagen gets to him it's not going to be pretty...

"Fang." I muttered sharply, "I need you to run." Hagen Daäs responded before Fang could,

"That's not an option this time Maximum!" The rain had muffled their footsteps so far, but at the growl from my right I turned to see yellow eyes gleaming through the misty, rainy air. They were still in human form but their eyes glinted gold in the dark street, two of them flanking us from the right, two from the left. One walked over to stand at Hagen's side, and I reached behind me, grabbing a fistful of Fang's hoodie and walking us back a few paces, glancing around for escape routes.

Hagen was talking to the human Eraser next to him, and though the down down pour of water all around us dulled my super senses, avian hearing still helped me pick out a name from his silky drawl.

Ari.

"WHERE IS HE?!" I yelled, "WHERE ARE YOU KEEPING HIM YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH?!" The Doctor didn't even stop talking to acknowledge me. "HAGEN!?" I roared. But my white coat turned around, walking back to the van as the Eraser he'd been chatting with walked closer,

"Calm down," he purred, "you'll be able to have a chat with Hagen when we get back to the school." My jaw dropped as I focused in on the Eraser. Dressed in a black camo kit, and not as pretty lupine hybrids usually were in human form (though he made up for it in muscle mass) I saw A-jax strutting towards us - his eyes now an icy bloodshot gold.

I felt Fang shaking a little behind me, whether through fear or cold I had no idea. The last time we fought them, it looked like he could barely fight Erasers with a tranq gun; there's no way in hell he'll survive in hand to hand combat. Plus, we were outnumbered, and seven Erasers at one time is even above my pay grade. Feeling desperate I took a deep breath, yelling at A-jax,

"How does me coming quietly sound? You let this guy go, that's what I'm going to do!"

"Max-" Fang snapped warningly, trying to get out from behind me as A-jax gave a bark-like laugh,

"Oh Maximum, I don't think you're in any position to be making deals right now." Fang retaliated before I could,

"A-jax stop, I don't know what's going on but-"

"Oooooh…" he crooned holding a hand over his heart, "Fangy it hurts using my cover name in times like this - we're not at school, not yet anyway…but I'll give you another chance, go on, say my name." Fang paused for a second, and I could hear the stiffening of his shoulders in his voice,

"I won't let you do this," he raised his voice, "is this what they won't tell me, you're using Erasers? I thought we were fighting Itex not joining them!"

"We'll update you back at base Fang," A-jax snarled, "just pipe down while the big boys get on with business!" Fang finally managed to push me aside, standing in front of me and blocking my view of A-jax,

"Ari you can't do this! It's wrong it's-" but A-jax laughed, stopping in front of Fang who suddenly froze. I watched his shoulders slowly sinking, his posture sinking like he was physically piecing an idea together.

A sickening feeling started to curdle in my stomach, but I'd barely had time to notice it before A-jax morphed out, faster then I'd thought possible. He ran around Fang, eyes on me, and Fang tried to jump in his path but I'd already slipped into battle mode. Grabbing the scruff of Fang's jacket I swung him behind me, out of harms way as I wung a drop kick into A-jax's gut. It didn't do as much damage as it would've done if I was wearing my combat boots, but it was enough to make him faulter.

I smashed a right hook into his snout, stunning him long enough to grab his head and pull it down into my kneecap. But the cold and adrenaline appeared to be numbing his pain receptors, because when he backed up, hunched over, his wheezing was due to him laughing instead of pain. I watched as A-jax bared his yellow teeth in a grin, chortling as he looked from me, to Fang, and back again.

"Keep your hands off him dogface..." I snarled, "I'm the one you want - he's not a part of this..." A-jax gave a bark of laughter that sent goosebumps down my spine.

Fang was going to die if I didn't do something fast. Screw my well being, they needed me alive - but Fang? He was no use to them whatsoever. Fang would get the deluxe retirement package plan, maybe even a few weeks in school worst came the worst. A-jax grinned at me, speaking with a kind of pitiful sarcasm,

"Ohhh Maxie..." my blood ran cold at hearing him use the nickname Ari used to use. A-jax seemed pleased with my reaction, smirking knowingly, "your friend Fang is just as much a part of this as you are..." I launched myself at him in a flying kick, knocking the air from his lungs as the other Erasers began to morph into their wolf form. Using A-jax's weight against him I threw myself at him, managing to get in an uppercut before the both of us fell with a splash onto the puddle strewn-pavement.

I pushed myself up so that I was sitting on his chest, punching him in the face as hard as I could and hearing bone crack before an Eraser's claws sliced through the back of my hoodie, picking me up like a garbage bag and flinging me through the air, into a brick wall. I fell to the ground heavily, my elbows jarred on the pavement as I scrambled up, quaking with a mixture of shock and adrenaline. Fingers numb and hands trembling from the cold, I struggled to pull my wet hoodie off, throwing it down on the ground.

Hiding from Fang wasn't going to help his life expectancy, and I needed to play the bird card while I still had cards left to play.

I heard Fang's yell of pain but only had time to glimpse the three Erasers that had surrounded him, as the mutt who'd thrown me off A-Jax advanced. I snapped out my wings, using them to propell myself forwards, double punching his chest as his claws sunk deeply into my wings, hoisting me up like a puppet. Yelling through the pain I wrenched my wings backwards, the claws goaging bloody lines amounst the feathers as they slid off and I smashed my palms over the Eraser's ears. I didn't hear the pop over his high pitched cry, but with a kick to the head he was silenced altogether.

The deaf dog fell unconscious as the next Eraser came at me, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and slamming me against a wall. The rain was making the Eraser's unique smell unbearable, so that the shooting pains in my head from cracking against the wall were almost preferable to the smell of wet dog and sun dried trash crawling up my noistrils.

I shoved my arms up through his hold, but his claws were sunk into my tshirt and his grip didn't budge. I swung my foot towards his groin and he edged back, sticking his butt out and head forwards to keep any unmentionables out of reach. Thanks to the proximity of his head, like any well mannered mutant would do, I gave him a head butt on the house.

The Eraser dropped me and I fell dizzily to my knees, my vision spinning and my brain feeling like it'd been knocked loose, the spot where my head had cracked against the wall throbbing. Autopilot thankfully took over and, I managed to swing an uppercut into his sweet spot, making him fall to his knees with a gasp.

Using his shoulders as a spring board I leapt up into the air, snapping my wings open and kicking off his head to gain a little extra altitude. Two dogs down and two wing beats up I realised with a sickening pang that Fang's yelling had fallen silent (though the Erasers were still huddled around him offensively).

I tucked my wings in, pencil diving at one of the Eraser's heads, bending my knees a little as I barrelled feet first into him, knocking him out cleanly. Landing on the Eraser's back as he hit the floor, I jumped at his smelly friend, swinging my foot in a round house to the Eraser's chest. The Eraser jumped back a step, growling, and I landed with one foot on either side of an unconcious Fang.

I stole a second long glance at him to see that he was curled up, lying limply in half an inch of muddle water, barely breathing.

And in the moment I spared for Fang, hairy hands took their chance to grab my wings, pulling them back at an odd angle and sending my flight muscles into spasm. I almost fell, my legs quivering under my weight as I span, their paws slipping off my wet feathers as I kicked my heel out at his shoulder. I ducked the punch that came from my face but the Eraser behind me grabbed a fistful of my wet hair, tugging me backwards, away from Fang. I scrambled for footing, hands clawing at the paw twisted in wet dirty blonde hair. He released me, though only to grab both of my arms, pulling them behind my back - just short of dislocation. I threw out my wings, muscles still searing as I swung a meek sort of wing punch, but the Eraser with free hands sunk his claws into the wing's crest, drawing blood as I flailed around like a bird caught by a cat.

They shoved me down to the ground, my arms released as each 300llb sack of dog meat stood on a wing - pinning me so close to the ground I could only lift my head. I cried out, trying to pull my wings in, but the Erasers weight made breathing painful let alone struggling. All I could do was look ahead of me, watching as A-jax dragged the unconscious Fang over to the wall, arranging him in a sitting position, like a kid would with their toy dolls.

Seeing Fang so lifeless made my heart feel like it was closing in on itself, and scared of what A-jax was going to do to him I yelled,

"You've got me!" He ignored me, so I shouted louder, "I'm not going anywhere and he doesn't know anything! Leave him alone!" A-jax turned with a grin, swaggering over and pouting at me sympathetically,

"Actually Maxie, he knows a lot more then you think..." A-jax stopped in front of me, crouching down, "...but that would would be because, Fang's been working for Itex..." I glared at him and A-jax grinned at me maliciously, "Sure he didn't know it, pretty sure you didn't figure it out either, but let's be honest Maxie, how could you when you didn't even recognise me?" He pulled my head off the ground by the hair, forcing me to look at his face. Willing tears to stop budding at the corners of my eyes I gritted my teeth, glaring at him and trying to ignore the pain of the Eraser's weight on my wings.

"Come on Maxie!" He whined, dragging a claw impatiently along my cheek, the cut stinging wetly as he drew blood, "I mean I've grown some, but you know, science does that to you, if you leave someone in a lab to rot..." I stared at him coldly. I wouldn't say it. I wouldn't believe it. And with my voice waterlogged with cold, I gritted my teeth,

"I don't care who you think you are, but-" A-jax punched me in the face, still holding my hair so that I got the full rebound effect. I yelled in pain, no longer able to just grin and bear it all, blood streaming down from what felt like broken nose.

"I KNOW YOU DON'T CARE!" He barked, "CAUSE YOU LEFT A 13 YEAR OLD BOY ALONE IN THE SCHOOL WHILE YOU ESCAPED! AND A FEW LITTLE WHITE COATS TURNED HIM INTO THIS WAR MACHINE, ALL WHILE YOU RAN AROUND WITH THESE BUNCH OF PANSIES!" He tugged on my hair, a mixture of rain and slobber falling into my face as A-jax yelled,, "AND YOU KNOW WHERE THAT 13 YEAR OLD IS NOW?! HE'S TAKING DOWN THE GREAT MAXIMUM RIDE! SO, TELL ME - DO YOU RECOGNISE ME NOW?!"

The smelly breath was warm on my cold face, and tears mixed with the blood on my cheek as I stared at the once blue, now yellow eyes.

My heart was pumping painfully hard, blood pushing itself sluggishly around my numb body, sickness sinking into my stomach, and my voice growing pathetically watery,

"…Ari?" The Eraser that was once my little brother laughed, manically, almost nervously, "oh god...what did they do to you…?" Ari lent forwards, wet nose inches from mine,

"What did they do to me?" He sounded proud. I stared at his gleeful yellow glare, appalled as a look of triumph staring back at me, "they made me a God. They gave me a means and an end. They gave me my family - a real family. One without a pathetic excuse for a sister." My voice cracked,

"Ari you are my family; you and Kate, Star, Ratchet, Holden, Wren, and Iggy! All of you! I've been looking for you, all this time!"

"Oh, what, so you just 'couldn't find' the school?" he growled letting go of my hair to stand up, pacing like he was going through the motions of a speech he'd been planning since I'd left him, "You know sis, it doesn't take a genius to work out why they named our branch of Itex the school. Funnily enough, it was because it was under a high school," Ari turned around, gesturing at Fang who was still lying on the floor, unmoving, "a school where I met (what Itex decided would be) your little boyfriend!" Ari looked back at me, murderously quiet as the rain hammered on the rooftops, "We had him working with us for over half a year, ever since you've been gone, training him as a back up plan, waiting until you _finally_ appeared." The bones in my limbs began to ache as Ari growled,

"It was so irritating, having to make friends with Iggy without him recognising me, I had to take acting lessons. The amount of times I tried to convince the school to just take him back but...well they just thought he'd be the perfect bait to catch you. Some messing with social circles, him and your sister get too friendly, if she brings him home, we catch two birds with one stone. Four in fact, if the Martinez's happened to be home, then we'd get the government's CSM off our tails. But, let's face it, even little Ella wasn't that stupid." I wriggled around at the mention of Ella but one of the Erasers stamped on my wings and I cried out, grunting a little as Ari carried on,

"So we tried younger mutants, considering you always had the soft spot for playing the hero we set up well guarded facilities. But that never worked either...no thanks to Dad no doubt...and when you'd escaped us 13 times we launched the emergency back up plan; Fang's little 'Mission Fallen Angel'. And, oh...did you play right into our hands...get in close to Fang, let him get you two alone and - well..." He winked at me, "now we can all head back to school, catch up on all the lessons you'd missed..." Ari clicked his fingers, grimacing, "shame you weren't with the Igster...still without you to protect him we'll get him soon enough...

I felt like my heart had shut down. The slight relief of Iggy, Nudge and Ella being safe, overridden by panic. The reality that I was going back to school suddenly hit my like a freight train.

But Ari hadn't finished, and crouching down he pulled my face up by the chin, smirking, "it's funny, really. We told him we were trying to help mutants like you...all that time he knew you were a freak, all those lies he had to tell to build up your precious 'friendship'..." Ari grinned, "...knowing you 'angel'" he made little quotation marks in the air around the nickname, "you were probably a burden on him like you were on me - way I remember it, it always was the mission first, people second with Fang..."

And just like that I was alone again.

And I was going back to school - powerless to stop them.

And I struggled at they trust me up in duck tape, dragging me over to the van as Ari fetched Fang.

Dr Hagen got out of the passenger seat as we got closer; watching as me, Fang, and the fallen Erasers were flung in the back. I wriggled up into a corner, curling into a ball for warmth, wishing my wings weren't taped down so I could pull them around me, shivering as the door slammed shut. We were left in total darkness and my throat closed up, not willing to breathe in any more icy air for fear of what was to come.

I'd trusted Fang. I'd really almost trusted him. But he was an Itex pawn...and I let them in without even realising...

...How could I let...how could he...what have I done?!

Hot tears pricked ran down my cheeks as I shivered violently, too numb to care how cold I was - horrified at finding my brother too late.

I'd failed.

My little brother was gone.

All but one of my little flock was no where to be found...and now I was going back to school.

And I'd never see the CSM kids again...I could just see Angel's worried little face when I didn't come to the ship to see her tomorrow.

The engine choked to life and we headed off. I felt my lip curl downwards as my emotional barrier cracked, leaving me to cry, silently, powerless to stop them as they dragged me back to hell...

* * *

**Dun dun DAAAA!**

**WAIT! A wild fact of the chapter appeared:  
The nile crocodile can hold its breath underwater for up to 2 hours while waiting for prey - oh...that's comforting...**

**Fly on,  
M**


	7. Chapter 7

**May I Have Your Attention Please?  
The Roll Call of 'People-Doing-Whiz-Bang-Things-After-Last-Chapter' Is About To Begin:**

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**This chapter is longer then usual, hope you don't mind - if you do find yourself enraged at its increased length, please do scroll down to your chapterly dose of factoid at the bottom, in order to at least gain something for your pains.  
And now, without further ado, read on you radical people of FanFiction...**

* * *

Chapter 7:  
Voices In Your Head?  
Meeting Yo Girl's (Mutant) Family?  
Welcome: You've Tuned In To the Life and Times of Fang

* * *

FANG POV

"Fang..."

Someone was shaking me gently, "Fang?!"

I let out a small groan. Everything hurt, muscles that I didn't even know I had, were aching like someone had tried to stretch them thinking they were elastic bands. Most of my bones felt like broken eggshells that someone had tried to glue back together. I blinked blearily, grunting with effort as I rolled over, realising my clothes were still soaked through as I tried to stand up; a helping hand slotting under my arm and pulling me to my feet, encouraging quietly, "that's it, up you get..."

I got up, slowly, wobbling even with their hand cupping my elbow, and I reached out to steady myself on the nearest surface. Whoever was supporting me carefully let go as I regained most of my balance. I lent forwards on what looked like a desk, and blinking through a blur of pain I found I recognised it.

I was gripping the edge of Jeb's desk; the man himself leaning into my field of view, wearing a white lab coat and looking almost concerned. His glasses were askew on his nose, and a few strands of usually neatly combed hair were hanging down erratically, resting over the lenses of his glasses.

I stared at him, unease settling in my stomach, though I couldn't quite remember why...My brain was too slow to recognise Jeb slipping one hand into his white coat, pulling something out of an inside pocket.

I only registered the syringe when the needle had dipped beneath my skin, the aching scratch barely there as Jeb emptied its contents, yanking it out quickly and dropping it, empty, on the desk. Next second, like someone had twisted a camera lens into focus, everything rushed back; the ache dulled, my balance and vision levelled out, and anger hit me like a wave. Everything I'd thought about, doubted about the Institute seemed to flood together as I stared at Jeb in his white coat, everything that had happened before I'd woken up flashing in front of my eyes.

"Fang are-" Jeb never got any further.

I slammed my fist into his face, feeling the breaking of his nose as he staggered back. Eyes screwed up tight, his hands flying up to clutch his face, swearing through the pain. I lunged forwards, grabbing fistfuls of his white coat and throwing him face down on the desk; slipping one arm around his neck and pinning him in a half nelson, feeling a little sick at using one of the first moves he'd gotten Ari to teach me.

"Where's Max?!" I growled, Jeb trying to pull my forearm away from his throat, his voice clogged thanks to his nose,

"Fang, please-" I tightened my grip around his neck, snapping,

"Tell me what Itex has done with her - now, or we do this the hard way." Jeb's fingers scrabbled to loosen the grip around his neck, but I only tightened my hold - a voice echoing through the room. I whipped around, scanning all four walls only to find that we had the office to ourselves. But it spoke again, like the speaker was only talking inches from me, too fluid to be robotic, too robotic to be human.

_Fang let him go._

I stared down at Jeb, worried whatever he'd shot me up with was hallucinogenic.

"What the hell did you inject me with?!" I snarled.

_Fang, you've got to get to Max, let him go!_

Jeb, struggling to breathe, rasped,

"Top desk draw...Max...two doors on right...you-" I threw him to the floor and he cried out, falling onto his broken nose and crumpling on the floor, cradling his face and gasping for air.

I darted around the desk, stopping in front of the only set of draws, hands shaking as I wrenched open the top one. My stomach flipped as I saw all my old 'spy equipment' inside. The 'Institute' may've been a load of smoke and mirrors, but this stuff was definitely the real deal.

I snatched up the invisibility belt, pulling it through my belt loops and fastening it with one hand, the other busy clipping the pouch of tranqulizer ammo to my still sopping wet jeans. I picked up the tranq gun, but recognising the small case beneath it placed it on the desk for a second - flipping the catches of the case and opening the lid a little hesitantly.

They'd trained me how to fire the hand gun (for show I suppose, not many spies go around without a semi-automatic) but they'd never let me take it on missions. I was only a recon 'agent', used for 'stealth missions'; firing it, even with the silencer, would apparently raise the alarm thanks to the Eraser's level of hearing. Right now however ,it was looking pretty useful; because the tranqs took a few seconds to kick in and I didn't know if I'd have those few seconds when I faced whatever was outside Jeb's office.

The silencer was already screwed on, and checking its clip I found it already loaded; so pocketing some extra ammo, I stuck the pistol in the back of my jeans, hoping that keeping the saftey off wouldn't mean I shot myself in the ass.

Loading up the tranq gun I ran back over to Jeb. He was still whimpering on the floor and clutching his face, but I managed to tug the ID badge from his neck; needing to unlock the card activated bolt on the door leading 'high access areas' - Itex. Pausing only to drop kicking him so he didn't raise the alarm, I ran over to the card reader, running Jeb's ID through the swipe slot and watching it beep happily - a green light flashing and the electronic bolt drawing back. I pushed down on the door handle silently, easing it open as quietly as possible and scanning the white, bright corridor beyond.

It was empty.

I edged out of the door, leaving it slightly ajar, and running in a crouch to the second door along - hoping that Jeb had caved, and was directing me to the room Max was in, rather then Itex's room for 'puppy' training. Just outside I leant back against the wall, rapping my knuckles on the door in case anyone was in there and raising the gun ready, pressing the button on my belt and standing stock still. I felt instead of saw myself turning invisible, a cold ripple of goosebumps running through me, and I held my breath, trying not to shake from the adrenaline rush as a morphed out Eraser opened the door.

He looked around, not seeing anyone but sniffing the air curiously. Before he could pick up my scent I fired the tranq gun, the bullet hitching itself in the bulging jugular of his neck. With my invisibility gone the Eraser snarled down at me, his shoulders hunching before he pounced, and ears twitching as he fought the drug now pumping through his veins. I threw myself out the way as he lunged, reloading another tranq as another two Erasers emerged from the doorway.

They glanced at their buddy (on all fours, shaking his head like a dog trying to get water off its fur) and in the moment it took for him to collapse I fired my second shot, getting one of them in the eye. He howled, painfully loudly, and I winced as echoes rang along the corridor - I need to fished them quick before someone came running to check what the racket was about. I jumped at the other Eraser, snap kicking him in the stomach. My punch was batted aside by his huge paw, claws raking along my arm and three fresh cuts stinging as he floored me, the tranq gun flying from my hand and a dull sense of pain buzzing through me.

300lbs of stinking dog isn't exactly easy to throw off, and it made me painfully aware of the firearm tucked over my backside, unreachable as I was pinned to the floor. Sacrificing my defence to reach for tranq ammo the Eraser managed to split my lip (and give me a clean black eye) before I'd grasped the material at the end of the bullet. I stabbed the Eraser under the ribs, my breath knocked out of me as he cuffed me around the face, paw slamming down by the throat and cutting off my airway. I gasped involuntarily, the Eraser tightened his grip, leaning over me with drool dripping from yellowed fangs.

Instinctively I must've stabbed the button on my belt again, because the cool rush of invisibility washed over me for a second, confusing the Eraser enough to loosen his grip. I managed to take a big enough gulp of air and send a weak uppercut to his muzzle before the tranq finally kicked in. The Eraser only had time to look back at me for a second before his eyes rolled back into his head. He fell on top of me, out cold, the weight of him squashing all the air from my lungs.

Trying to both breathe and push down a wave of nausea I did my best to crawl out from underneath him, standing up so fast my head began to spin. I snatched the tranq gun from the floor, looking around to check all the dogs were unconscious, and hearing movement from below me. It sounded more like machinery then white coats rushing to the scene, but it was still a little nice warning that I didn't have all the time in the world down here.

I jogged over to the door, nerves rattling through me as I entered a room barely larger than my bedroom back home. Various tables and instruments were dotted around the walls, but most of the decoration was kept to the back wall of the room, which was stacked from floor to ceiling with dog crates.

Itex, what I'd been trying to stop by working for the Institute, had been two doors down from where I'd been reporting in every morning, all this time.

Thankfully all but one of the dog crates was empty; and in the only occupied one, at the foot of the pile, behind the bars of the biggest cage, was an unconscious Max. She'd been changed into a hospital gown and her hair was still sopping wet like my clothes; from what I could see of her skin she looked like she'd been used as a punching bag, even those huge wings lying limply at a battered angle. The Erasers were apparently just putting her away, the padlock on her crate hanging open on the latch. I wriggled it off, pulling the door open and gently easing her out onto the floor. She lay, unmoving as I tucked her wings underneath her, sticking the tranq gun in the back of my jeans with the pistol and scooping her up, securely. I dashed back to the door, only stopping to scan the hallway for more Erasers before dashing back to Jeb's office - it was the only way out I knew, and there was no time to look for an alternative exit.

I pushed the door open awkwardly, rushing over to the elevator but stopping dead as I saw Jeb leaning heavily on his desk - clutching his nose but mostly upright. I stood stock still, wondering whether it was better to put Max down and knock him out, but she shivered, suddenly wriggling in my grip, and half falling to the floor. Her bare feet slapped against the cold flooring, wings flaring out to balance herself and clutching onto me.

Much to my surprise she didn't jump away from me, and the speech of 'I'm not going to hurt you' went to hell as she gripped me tightly, giving me a comforting nod before attempting to stand on her own, facing Jeb. She may look like crap, but she was still Max, and I couldn't see the look she was giving Jeb, but the atmosphere cranked up a notch as she stood up straighter. Jeb frowned at her, his voice kind of pathetic with a bunged up nose,

"...Back so soon Maximum?" Shivering where she stood, Max looked like she was going to run at Jeb for a second, but, clenching her fists, she only wobbled a little, shaking where she stood,

"...call Ari, we need to get out of here"

I stared at her, Jeb looking as confused as I felt,

"Call-?"

"Ari." She finished shortly, apparently serious.

Jeb gave her a very sad look but Max took a step towards him, raising her voice, "he's hurting but we can still save him."

It may've been his nose, but Jeb's voice suddenly sounded like it was broken, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he said gently,

"Max, he's gone..."

"He's your son!" She growled.

"Then I know better then anyone else" Jeb said urgently, "they went too far, he won't come back. Not to you, not to-"

"I left here 6 months ago without my flock," Max spat, taking another step forwards, "I will not make that mistake again. Now...Call Ari. And get the rest of them up here while you're at it."

An alarm started blaring from beyond Jeb's door, echoing through Itex's corridors. I ran over to the door, shutting it as a precaution and keeping a steady grip on the handle. Jeb walked behind his desk, opening up a laptop and beginning to type away. The electronic lock on the door made a clicking sound,

"I can reinforce the lock on the door and override security protocol to get the elevator working. But not for long. You'll need to leave quickly if you're going to escape" The elevator dinged cheerfully, the doors sliding open as Max stumbled up to the desk, fist slamming down on the table top, stronger then I thought was possible in her condition,

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT THEM!" Jeb continued typing,

"Max, please, I'm trying to help-"

"FUNNY, CAUSE I DON'T SEE YOU DOING ANYTHING TO GET MY FLOCK UP HERE!" Jeb stood up quickly, pulling her into a hug with one hand and pulling something out of his coat with the other. I ran forwards, thinking it was a syringe, but what he now held was maybe worse. Only he pointed it over Max's head, at me.

"Go. Now." Jeb said, drawing back from Max who stared from the revolver in his hand, to him, and back again,

"You don't think I'd die for them?" Jeb gave Max a pitying look,

"I'm not aiming at you sweetheart, and you're in no condition to play the hero." He was pointing the gun at me, Max giving him a disbelieving look,

"Like you'd shoot Fang, he's-"

"For my children, I'd do anything." Jeb said shortly, glancing up at me urgently, "Fang, escort Max upstairs and get yourselves out of here - if you stay here any longer they'll capture the both of you." He looked down at Max, a very soft expression on his face as he lowered his voice, "...and I don't think either of us, want Fang to find out Itex is really like, from behind bars..." Max's shoulders shook, from either cold or anger, her wings spreading out a little, as if to try and make herself bigger.

"I'm coming back." She said darkly. Jeb smiled at her fondly,

"...that's my Maximum." There was a crash from the other side of the door and I leapt away from it, Jeb aiming his revolver at the entrance, targeting the Erasers that were about to break into the office, "Go - NOW!"

I backed over to the elevator, Max giving Jeb one last look before jogging clumsily back to me, the both of us stepping through the open metal doors. I lent forwards, pressing the up arrow, Max leaning on the side of the wall for support as the doors slid shut. The floor shuddered for a moment then we started to rise.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Peachy," Max mumbled through gritted teeth, not looking at me, "not great with small spaces though." I nodded, trying to keep talking to take her mind off it,

"How do you know Jeb?" Max pinched the bridge of her nose, her voice pretty strained,

"He helped me out when I was younger." I frowned at her,

"I thought he was part of Itex."

"He works for them because they keep A-...because they keep his son in there as blackmail." I grimaced,

"Feel bad for punching him now." Max glanced up at me coldly and I shrugged, "thought he was Itex and I had to find out where you were somehow." Max looked me up and down,

"How did you even- I mean in town it looked like they'd put you through a meat grinder. Now..." I shook my head,

"No idea - I was pretty sure they'd kicked me into the afterlife. Woke up, no broken bones, hell barely any bruises; I even stopped aching when Jeb shot me up with adrenaline or something." Max stared at me and I held her gaze, "I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either, but I don't really want to hang around and ask Jeb for the full story-"

DING

The doors opened and we both looked out at the dark, thankfully empty, boiler room. We stepped out, the doors closing cheerfully behind us but shutting out most of the light. In the dim gloom I saw Max staring to our right, scanning over the bricked up 'old entrance' Jeb had told me about, before they'd put in the elevator.

"Erasers are coming" she muttered, her expression tightening as she squinted at the brickwork.

Where she got that from I had no idea, but considering I wasn't the medical miracle, I decided to trust she knew was she was talking about. I pulled the tranq gun from the back of my jeans, reloading as I ran over to the stairs, checking Max was still behind me as I started climbing.

At the top of the flight the door was unlocked and I pushed it open recklessly. It swung open, banging against the wall of the corridor, and heralding shouts form the furthest end of the hall. I stood still long enough to take in the ten or so Erasers, morphing out next to Maths class rooms, before Max grabbed my arm and pulled me into a run.

"Take the stairs!" She yelled, sprinting out in front of me as the sound of claws clattering on the floor got closer and closer. Not in a position to think much over the stream of cussing in my head I did as I was told.

We leapt up the stairs, two at a time, mutts on our tail as we climbed up to the first floor, my tranqs taking out any that got too close as we climbed up and up the flights. Instead of turning out into the top floor Max kept climbing, taking the stairs up to the open roof. We barrelled through the door, running out onto the flimsy rubber tiles, Max shouting,

"Jump over the railing" and pulling still further ahead of me, ready to jump over the metal rails that stopped students from toppling off the multi-story drop. Funnily enough, I was surprisingly ready to take a leap of faith with a girl who could fly...I mean it was that or stay grounded with a pack of angry Erasers - you'd be pretty stupid not to jump.

So, swallowing the urge to back out of a deadly fall to my death, I vaulted over the railing, every instinct I had in me screaming bloody murder as I began to fall. Max jumped after me, falling to my level and pulling me around into an awkward kind of hug, holding me tightly around the waist and yelling,

"Hold on!" I barely even got a tight enough grip before 15ft of feathery wings snapped out in the cold morning air. I yelped, both in pain and surprise at the sudden change in direction, dropping the tranq gun as I balled my fists in the back of her hospital gown; arms around her neck and legs clinging tightly around her waist (doing a fantastic impression of an inexperienced koala). We slowed down, flying like the downwards curve of a graph before climbing again, soaring slowly higher over the high school's morning lit lawns and towards the football pitches.

We soared higher, fifty feet and climbing, and I looked back down Max's back, trying not to get distracted by the huge feathery wings to focus on the Erasers, shuffling around on the rooftop.

"SNIPER!" I yelled over the wind, recognising the stand they were setting up and holding Max tighter as she sharply changed course, flying directly in front of the icey sun to throw off their aim. No bullets hit us, and only a few whistled past us as I squinted back at the pack.

We were pretty far away now, but, from the looks of it, I was watching a couple of Erasers shaking out...oh now that's just unfair...

"Max!" I yelled over the deafening wind, "they're coming at us in the air."

"I can't hear any choppers?!" Max shouted back.

"They're flying with wings like you!"

"Erasers with wings?!" Max screeched, dropping a foot in surprise as I yelped in confirmation.

"100 metres and counting," I yelled, watching them trying to gain altitude. I had a feeling Max would've been able to outfly them, even in her condition, but she was carrying an entire other human, so the Erasers weren't having too much trouble gaining on us. What they had in speed however, they lacked in skill, weaving ungracefully through the air, on and off course thanks to the turbulence.

They were all holding guns but seemed to be having difficulty taking aim and flying at the same time. If they got close enough however, we 'd be such an easy target aim wouldn't matter. My stomach lurched as a gun shot rang out, Max diving to miss the rounds they began to fire, flying haphazardly to give them a more difficult target. Feeling very unsteady I reached for the pistol in the back of my jeans, and gripping Max tightly with my left hand, my right one closed around the grip of the gun. Max, noticing what I pulled out of my jeans shrieked,

"YOU HAVE A GUN IN YOUR PANTS!?"

"No I'm just pleased to see you" I snapped sarcastically, trying to take aim with hands shaking from the overflow of adrenaline pumping through my veins. Max kindly steadied her flight path so I could get a clear shot, and holding my breath to try and steady my shot I took aim - praying that air currents and a one handed shot didn't prove the gun to be all but useless.

I fired at the closest Eraser, not hitting where I'd meant to, but a bullet through one wing sending him spiralling out of control anyway, falling through the air like a chicken dropped from a plane.

One of them shot at us again and I almost dropped the gun as Max swerved violently, zig zagging to avoid the shots, arms clamped around me tightly so she didn't drop me when she dodged.

I took aim as they caught up to us again, sending an Eraser to the right of their flock plummeting through the air, wings falling past him him like paper as he dropped through the air.

Three left, come on Fang, you can do this.

I missed with the next two shots, sending one Eraser down on the third, and another on the fourth; but I almost had to empty the whole barrel on the last one, missing thanks to their clumsy flapping. They may be huge targets, but damn they were crappy flyers; wobbling between different altitudes like drunks, they were probably more difficult to hit then Max was, only they didn't have the excuse of carrying a passenger. I watched the last one falling, not even moving the huge wings as he plummeted to earth, and I let out a breath of relief, yelling to Max over the wind,

"Got 'em all - we're clear!" She didn't answer and dimly I noticed we were loosing altitude, "Max?!"

"I can't…" Her voice cracked as an air current barrelled into us, flipping Max over onto her back.

She made no attempt to right us in the air again, in fact her arms around my waist went limp.

And we were falling.

"MAX!?" I yelled, holding her tightly to make sure we didn't fall away from each other. She was out cold, very pale, her skin freezing while her wet hair and wings flew past us like parts of a rag doll.

I looked down to see a field below us - we were too far above the ground to survive falling.

Oh Crap. "MAX!" I yelled, the hand still holding the pistol nudging her cheek (as if that would be what woke her up), "MAX!" But she stayed out cold.

I screwed up my eyes, pistol still in hand as I pushed her head up, pressing my forehead against hers, my heart racing like it was trying to crank out as many beats as it could before the enviable flattening. With some kind of twisted hope I threw my weight forwards, flipping us over - maybe if I hit the ground first Max might survive. But as I pulled her tighter into my chest I felt the muscles of her back contract oddly.

I looked up at her, only just tightening my grip in time. By the looks of it, Max was still unconscious, but her wings began to stretch out, slowing us down like a parachute before it was to late.

When we actually collided with the scratchy field of grass, I took the brunt of the blow; but instead of death on impact, I was blessed with pain similar to someone who'd been run over by a monster truck.

Pain shot through my chest like fire as Max rolled away a few feet away, and it took me a few seconds before I could bring myself to even try and inhale, the pain so strong I found I couldn't breathe without having to concentrate. Feeling half dead I tried to turn my head to check on Max, but the movement sent the world spinning, dimming to black before I could even try and fight unconsciousness...

* * *

Max POV:

Whispering was the first thing that reached me. Well, that's not technically true, pain was the first thing that reached me - it felt like I'd managed to break my muscles as well as a few bones.

I really, really didn't want to even _think_ about getting up, let alone fight, but if I was in the wrong hands, I knew my physical condition could only get a whole lot worse.

So with a huge effort, I forced my eyes open in the dim light. I tried pushing myself up a little, but propping myself up on one elbow was painful enough, let alone sitting up straight, and I fell back against the cotton sheets of the bed - panting hard, a clot of pain throbbing beneath the bridge of my nose.

"Max...?" I tried to make some kind of intimidating growl but it came out a little more pathetic - sounding more like a groan then a snarl. Someone sat down on my bed and, with my vision still blurry, I tried lashing out at the stranger, loose fists pawing at the air in what I hoped was my attacker's direction. "Hey, it's okay, it's me," hushed the voice, "it's alright Max, you're alright..." Finally, my brain slotted my memories into the right place and I relaxed, blinking at the still fuzzy outline of Rob, "you're onboard the CSM ship," he reassured me, "...lab coat free zone."

A feeling of safety ballooned in my chest, warmth spreading through me like red ink, and I screwed up my eyes, trying to block the ache pulsing through my bones so I could get ahold of the situation.

"...what happened?" I asked weakly, trying to prop myself up onto my elbows again and wincing as I lent on a wing. Rob put another pillow behind me so I could sit up a little more, his voice shadowed by a nervous chuckle,

"Well, we were going to ask you that." I stared at him and he grimaced, "We had all hands on deck scanning the networks for you - Valencia got a call from Ella and her friends about you going missing." I opened my mouth but before I could ask my question Rob answered it, "they're all at one of our safe hourses; Iggy hot wired my car before Ella could even give him the keys, I think he wanted to make sure they were out of harms way while you were MIA...can't blame him, you gave us a real scare..." I tried to frown but winced, the muscle contraction in my forehead kicking my headache up a notch,

"How'd you find me?"

"Well…" Rob paused a second, "that was the weird thing...we got something bleeping up on our GPS, one of those location markers y'know. Only no one knows who's put it there. It was the only lead we had, so I sent out a search party...and there you were - lying in a field, with some boy out cold next to you." Rob smirked, "don't know where you picked him up but he's a piece of work. We brought him in of course, restrained him just in case he was Itex; Bridget tried to give him a check up but he head butted her before she could see how many ribs he'd broken." I tried pushing myself to the edge of the bed with a wince, pausing to ask through gritted teeth,

"Where is he?" Rob tried to stop me as I pushed myself up right,

"Woah, hang fire...you can interrogate him when you're rested up - he's locked in the padded cell below deck, safe from the kids...didn't know what to do with him after he started spouting all kinds of crazy about helping you...the kid tried to talk himself out of having a loaded Itex-made gun." I tried to push Rob off, bottling the wave of nausea rising up my throat and almost smiling,

"Yeah I know, he's an idiot. He's not lying though..." I pushed my legs over the side of the bed, taking several deep breathes as Rob stared at me, stunned,

"You're kidding me...you trust this guy - he smells like iTex." I smirked,

"Yeah, that's cause we got attacked and taken back to the school - he took down a load of Erasers and got us both out." Rob screwed up his face, clearly skeptical

"...and you're sure he's not how they found you in the first place?" I shook my head,

"Ari told me-" my breath caught in my throat as that conversation came back to me - I could practically feel the confused vibes coming from Rob at the mention of his name. Pulling myself together, I shook my head bracingly, "...I'll explain it all later...point is, Fang's alright." I slid forwards slightly, securing my feet on the floor and pushing myself up very slowly. Rob caught my arm as I wobbled, almost falling back onto the bed. My legs were trembling violently as I forced them to hold my weight, and Rob gave me a look that said he plainly didn't think I should be up, but I scowled stubbornly,

"Fang doesn't know where he is or what's going on, he probably thought you were Itex..." teetering on the balls of my feet I almost fell to the floor, grabbing onto Rob just in time and grimacing apologetically, "considering he helped me out, it'd be nice if I went and put him out of his misery." Rob looked at me for a second but when I tried to take more of my own weight he put an arm around my shoulders to support me,

"Fine...I'll take you..." I grimaced gratefully.

As much as I hated to admit it, in this condition, I wasn't going to be making it very far on my own - at least I wasn't going anywhere at any great pace. Rob led me over to the door, holding it open with his foot and helping me hobble through.

"So," he asked lightly, where'd you pick up this Fang guy?"

The door closed behind us and we started slowly plodding down the corridor. I smirked,

"The local bar, y'know." He rolled his eyes and I winced as one of my bruised wings batted against the corner of the corridor. I tucked them both behind me a little tighter, grimacing at Rob, "we met at school - as in normal school-school. It's a long story...I'm not sure on a few details to be honest..."

He nodded, deciding not to push the subject any further, and helped me along the rest of the way in silence.

In a few minutes we stopped half way along a corridor, Rob letting me lean against the doorframe while he fiddled with the collection of keys hanging on his belt. I peered through the glass porthole in the door, seeing a yellow padded room beyond, occupied by a very disgruntled looking Fang. Rob found the right key, sliding it into the lock and pulling the door wide. Fang's face went from murderous to perplexed as I stepped into view, and I gave him a small wave as I pulled myself into the room.

"Sorry about earlier son," Rob said, bouncing on his heels slightly and leaning into the room, "we had to be cautious - for the kids sake." Leaning heavily on the padded wall I smiled at Rob who gave us a loose salute, "I'll leave you two too it then," and with that he pushed the door mostly closed, walking back down hall and leaving me to smile awkwardly at Fang. As Rob had said, Fang looked like he was having trouble breathing with a few broken ribs.

"You alright?" I asked carefully. His eyebrows raised comically,

"...I've been better...you?" I smirked flatly,

"Kinda feel like crap to be honest..." Fang's forehead scrunched up a little and I raised my eyebrows at him,

"Rob told me you were quite the fighter when you came round." Fang grimaced, saying slowly,

"I thought iTex had just picked us up," he raised his eyebrows again, "I take it we're not back there though..." I shook my head,

"The CSM tracked us down - they're a company Dr M founded when she found out about Itex. Rob," I jerked my thumb at the door, "the guy that was just here, he's been researching on iTex for ages for the government - trying to shut the whole thing down. Good ol' Uncle Sam bought this place, the CSM cruiseliner - we've been using as a kind of living space for the kids I managed to rescue from Itex."

"...You've been rescuing kids?" I shrugged awkwardly, slowly rambling over details,

"Well...Rob pin-pointed a few Itex bases, and I checked them out and trying to find Ari." I felt the itch in my nose that told me tears were coming and looked down at my feet, forcing myself to hold it together, "...I never found him...but..it turned out they were keeping kids there like...well like me...so I got them out..." I screwed up my eyes, trying to keep a lid on the waterworks and box up my emotions so I could deal with them later - alone.

Fang got up from where he was sat, still breathing cautiously, his features pinched with pain and one hand cradling his ribs as he slowly walked over, stopping to stand in front of me. I tried to shut down my emotions as I looked up at him, practically having to keep a physical lid on them when I was met with such an expressive face - I mean, its Fang, since when does this ever happen.

"I'm sorry about Ari." He said quietly. At that my knees buckled and I fell to the floor painfully, my wings flaring out for balance, but only hurting me more so; I was pretty sure I'd pulled most of my flight muscles, and considering they'd been recently trampled on by Erasers, to say they were sore was a bit of an understandment.

Fang knelt down next to me, still cautious to take it very slow with his ribs. Either he was sure I'd shatter if she showed any other comforting gestures, or he'd reached his limit for showing emotion today; but whichever it was, he only made sure to sit so close that our legs were pressed up against each other, though that in itself might be considered a Fang hug. I gritted my teeth, trying to keep words to a minimum,

"He was counting on me to rescue him…" I drew in a shaky breath, fiddling with my hospital gown and pausing to look up at Fang. On closer inspection he had some head wounds; a split lip, a budding black eye, and that slightly hollowed look of having survived a very dangerous fight. Still, he looked ready to listen. I sighed, still trying to keep it short (for both our sakes),

"...I've saved a lot of kids Fang...but I could never find him...I looked, and looked, and looked for him - for all of my flock... But I never found them. And now I've let Itex turn him into that...I don't want to even think about what might've happened to the others..."

Barely putting any pressure behind his touch, Fang began to trace comforting patterns onto my knee with a finger. We sat in silence for a few moments and I just tried to concentrate on the path of his finger on my knee, finding my head had come to rest on his shoulder and tears had started to drip, silently, down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry..." Fang said quietly. I sniffed, taking my head off his shoulder and rubbing the excess water off my face,

"S'nothing to be sorry about - at least everyone's okay. Iggy made sure Ella and Nudge got to a safe house." I looked up at Fang to see him frowning.

"What?" I asked, Fang not looking at me as he said slowly,

"...I was thinking, before you got here...do you know how I got involved with the Institute?" I shook my head and he scowled harder, "my Mum used to work in a really high position there." I stared at him,

"Your Mum's..."

"she was a very high up member of Itex apparently," he stared down at me, "she near enough forced me into the Institute but Nudge never knew anything about it. Why just me? And why the huge coverup? I mean sure I'd never have gone into it all if I knew the Institute was actually Itex, but she could've threatened me, hell Itex could've threatened to hurt her. They could've just turned me into someone like-" Fang paused, apparently not wanting to say 'you'.

"It's called a mutant." Fang nodded, looking sheepish and I exhaled slowly, "I dunno, Ar-...he told me that you were like their last resort plan, but even then why would they get you to 'make friends' with me? They could've just hacked the school's database and stormed the Martinez's house. But they attacked _both_ us in town and took _both _of us back to Itex. They could've taken any human off the streets, hell if it was because they didn't want you blabbing they could've just finished you off...but they took you too.." Fang frowned and I looked up at him carefully, "...you sure you're not a mutant?" He smirked,

"Pretty dang sure yeah - I can't fly." I frowned at him,

"Flying's not the only thing I can do." Fang raised his eyebrows but I didn't go into details of my hyperspeed, asking him instead, "so you're sure you can't do anything strange?"

"Well I'm not a wizard." Fang answered raising an eyebrow, "but Jeb did give me this belt; as long as I don't move I can stay invisible. It's only supposed to work for three seconds but mine's faulty or something." I raised my eyebrows and he shrugged, pressing a button on his belt. The finger tracing patterns on my legs stopped. I could still feel the tip of it resting on my leg, but I couldn't even guess at where Fang was exactly. I'd seen tails, projectile poison and teeth so long they needed to be filed, hell I'd seen a chameleon mutant, but even he had a visible outline - Fang was just gone. I reached my hand towards him, making contact with warm skin, and with a ripple like a hologram Fang reappeared, frowning. I was squashing his nose.

I pulled my hand back from his face with an apolagetic smile and he rolled his eyes,

"I can't do it without the belt though - so it's not something in my DNA." I frowned, not really sure how to make sense of any of it.

A wave of tiredness washed over me like a yawn of warm air, and I ran a hand down my face trying to concentrate; slumping a little, my wings automatically pulling themselves around Fang and I like a cocoon.

"They're really pretty." He said carefully, apparently inspecting the blended colour change in my feathers. I almost snorted; oh good...as long as they were pretty, cause that's been worth all the pain. I gave them a rather miserable look, but Fang seemed actually interested - almost like the Martinez family when I first landed in their back yard. I gave Fang an exasperated look but he turned round with an unusually innocent expression,

"What? I'm human - most of us dream of flying. It's not every day you get up close and personal, with a girl with wings." I rolled my eyes, gently messing up his hair by running the flight feathers closest to him over his head (drawling),

"Wow, so that's the smooth talk that gets all the ladies." Fang chuckled silently, not bothering to set his hair straight and just enlightening me with a very rare Fang smile,

"..You're really fluffy," I snorted again, a little less sarcastically, and he reached out a hand questioningly, not breaking eye contact but not exactly popping the question 'can I stroke the fluffy thing'. I pulled my wing into his hand and he jumped, aparently surprised that it was warm, but gently ran his hand through the downy feathers. I let his fingers card through the downy fluff, and very slowly start to trail along the longer feathers, straightening out a few crooked ones. It felt a little like someone playing with your hair.

After a while I let my eyes fall shut, Fang working his way along the wing, and by the time he'd reached the tip I'd found that my head was lolled on his shoulder and I'd almost fallen asleep. I sat up straighter, a little embarrassed, Fang giving me a half smile,

"Relaxing is it?" I curled my hair behind my ears,

"Yeah, kind of...I've never had that done before."

When the kids were upset at the school, mostly Wren, I used to straighten out her feathers to calm her down (it usually sent her to sleep) but noone had ever done it for me. Hell, no one had even see my wings apart from the CSM crew, and the Martinez family.

The door opened with a squeak and both of us jumped, looking around as Dr M cried,

"Max! Fang! Oh thank God.." She swept down on the both of us, apparently too caught up with relief to realise that she was both destroying our calm atmosphere and endangering our physical state. The both of us winced as she threw her arms around our shoulders, Dr M suddenly seeming to remember we weren't exactly in the mood for heavy-handed affection and drawing back, arms pulled tight against her chest,

"Sorry, sorry-"

"Sorry" Rob finished, appearing in the doorway a little breathless "...Valencia just rushed up, didn't have time to-" Dr M put a hand on his upper arm, hushing him with a worried look at mine and Fang's cut and bruised faces,

"We can swap stories later honey, for now, I want to make sure they're both fixed up..." she turned back to Fang and I, fluttering with details, "Bridget tells me Fang has broken ribs but wasn't too keen to check on Max after that last rescue mission..didn't want to risk getting punched again..." I grinned sheepishly.

"Are Iggy, Nudge and Ella alright?" Fang asked. Dr M waved a hand at him,

"Fine, _fine_, they're in the canteen now. You can join them once you're all bandaged up."

Dr M walked over to Fang, holding out a hand to help him up, and Fang briefly smiled at her but got to his feet on his own. Rob pulled me up, throwing an arm around my shoulders like before, helping me hobble along as Fang and I were escorted off to the medical bay...

* * *

Fang had apparently broken a few ribs, and apart from various cuts, bruises, and one hell of a concussion he was otherwise fine. I, on the other hand, had indeed sprained most of my flight muscles, and was suffering from the assorted battle wounds you'd expect after loosing a fight against Erasers. Grudgingly I took the pain mediation Dr M gave me, and finally Dr M and Rob escorted Fang and I down to get some food.

I was still aching and even more tired, but my stomach was almost hurting more then my injuries at this point, and if I could've run to the ship's canteen I would've. By the time we'd got there, both Fang and I were a little out of breathe (me because I couldn't walk and Fang because he could only breathe shallowly). Rob pulled the door open, and he and Dr M led the way into the room. We'd barely made it over the threshold before I saw a little blonde girl running towards us,

"MAX!" I winced as she collided with my legs, hugging them tightly but drawing back a little suddenly as she realised what I was wearing. I smiled using what little mental energy I had to shove up a few mind blocks, watching anxiously as she stared at my hospital gown. Damn, I should've changed, and probably showered - Fang and I probably stink of Itex antiseptic...the kids could have flashbacks or something.

"What happened?" She said quietly. I could feel her pushing against the paper thin walls of my mind but I ruffled her hair,

"Little wear and tear - no biggie." She pouted at me but didn't have time to ask anything else as more mutants leapt from their dinner tables, rushing towards me and gathering in a huddle around my legs, halting as they smelt Itex's classic eau de parfum. It probably didn't help that I was also dressed in the uniform of any mutant kids' hell, my bloodied arms and face not helping the either the hospital get up, or the kids' first impressions of an unknown human (Fang) currently standing behind me.

"What happened Max?" Gazzy asked, standing behind Angel and looking worried, "Rob told us you got in a fight." I grinned at him,

"Well we couldn't let a load of Erasers strut down the street like it was no body's business. This is Fang," I threw a thumb over my shoulder at the boy in question, "he helped me take 'em down - even saved my ass once or twice." The kids all still looked concerned, a reptile-kid flicking out his tongue worriedly,

"You smell like them." I grimaced apologetically,

"Yeah, they tried to drag us both in for a chat - didn't work out too well for them let me tell you," I pointed to the claw marks on my cheek, "see this? That's not one paw - it's four of them, only managing to graze me once." Gazzy looked uncomfortable but he smiled a little as I winked at him.

"I'm sure Max'll wash after she's eaten." said a voice from over the other side of the canteen, "but I think we all know she's going to be a forgetful idiot while she's still hungry." I grinned over the the sea of heads, smiling at Ig, who was quickly striding over - the crowd of mutants parting to let him through. He pulled me into a very gentle hug, Rob ushering kids back to their tables as Iggy whispered in my ear,

"They didn't take you back did they?" I snorted cooly,

"They Goddam tried. Might've managed it, if Fang wasn't there." Iggy drew back from me, grimacing as he let me go, and stepped around me, almost attempting to pull Fang into a hug; but, at seeing Fang's hand cradling his ribs, he settled for one of those stupid manyly handshake things, the boys both nodding at each other like businessmen. Iggy turned back to me, raising his little finger - the sign Jeb taught us to use at the school to tell each other we were okay. I nodded but didn't raise my finger, feeling better on the CSM's ship then I had done in Itex, but still very much aware I was (for the most part) a walking train wreck - more so than usual, I mean.

"You guys sit down," Iggy said, grinning, "I'll go get you some food." I didn't even have time to thank him before I had to brace myself again, Ella running at us with Nudge on her tail - not literally, I should add; unlike most of the kids in this room Nudge did not have any tails, talons, or fangs.

After mushy greetings, all of which ending up being quite painful for me and Fang, we hobbled over to a table and sat down; Ella, Nudge and Fang on one bench, and Angel, Gazzy and I sitting opposite. Iggy sat down next to Ella, sliding mine and Fang's food onto the table, and letting us refuel before he started asking any questions.

After getting half way through our third portion Angel was the first one to speak, her head tilting towards Fang,

"...He eats a lot for a human." Fang glanced up at her, his mouth full and looking unsure about how he was supposed to react. I grinned, both at his face and at Angel's confused expression,

"Yeah, he's a bit of a pig really." Fang glared at me but Angel frowned,

"If he's a pig, what does that make you?" Iggy snorted, Ella shamelessly laughing, and I scowled at the both of them, answering sweetly,

"Well Fang's weird for a human." Angel cuddled Celeste tighter, her voice very childlike,

"He's not weird, he's just nervous cause he's not surrounded by normal people. It's weird that he likes cream cheese...it's kinda weird how much he likes you..but that's what happens in movies." I raised my eyebrows, Fang glaring at Angel, clearly confused, his cheeks ever so slightly flushed.

"We're not in the movies Ange," I said gently, bopping a finger on her cute little nose.

"Fang," Iggy offered, "meet Angel; telepath, mind-reader, and fish linguist." Angel grinned at Fang but he just stared blankly at her. Whether he was a little mind blown by her list of many talents, or whether the two were having a mental conversation, I didn't know; either way, it took a few seconds before Angel turned back to me,

"He does smell bad though." I grinned at her,

"All boys smell bad - have you met your brother?" Angel didn't laugh, looking at me really nervously, and I grimaced guiltily, "sorry sweetheart, I promise as soon as we've eaten we'll both get showered to wash it off." Angel tilted her head,

"What, together?" I choked on my food, Iggy grinning at Angel's innocent expression like he was having the best conversation of his life; and before I could swallow my food she explained, "well I've seen humans do that in movies alot." I swallowed my mouthful, shaking my head at her,

"I think we're going to have to check what kind of movies you're watching..." Angel frowned, thankfully oblivious, and before she could question me any further I pressed on, "why don't you and Gazzy go downstairs - get away from us smelling so bad." Gazzy nodded profusely, jumping to his feet with a small wave goodbye. Jumping from the bench he bounced over to the door, Angel hesitating only a second before following her brother. We watched them go, Angel taking Gazzy's hand and trying to make him skip out the canteen door.

"Gazzy?" Fang asked quietly, now out of earshot of the siblings. I grinned at him,

"Clue's in the name - stay up wind." Fang looked taken aback but didn't question the statement - apparently this was not the weirdest thing he'd heard or seen today.

Now that they younger kids had gone, Iggy leant ominously over the table, whispering,

"So...what happened after you and Fang ran off." I sighed. Putting down my fork, I began to regurgitate the story, missing out the grizzly details, Fang only interrupting to take over any Ari details - as, pathetic though it may be, I was still having a little trouble saying his name without feeling like the worst goddam person/flock leader/sister in the world.

When we'd finished there was silence for a second, Ella being the first to speak but doing so very slowly,

"I don't understand...if Fang got so badly beaten up, how was he in any kind of state to get you out? I mean you can't fight Erasers all that well normally...and, from the sounds of it, Fang was as good as dead in that street..." Fang shook his head,

"I don't know either. Last thing I remember from town was feeling like most of my bones had been broken. Next thing I know, I'm waking up, and it was like they'd all been glued back together. Hell I barely felt any pain when Jeb shot me up with something - and if he's a good guy I'm guessing that was just adrenaline..." I frowned, running a hand through my hair, my voice lowering, similar to someone trying to talk a class of kids through 'how to get away from a very hungry crocodile',

"Not even Hagen couldn't have fixed Fang up that fast, let alone Jeb. But what Fang looked like after fighting the Erasers downtown was completely different to when I saw him when I woke up in Itex - he should've puffed up like a ballon but nothing looked even slightly swollen. He had a few bruises and stuff, but there's no way in hell he could've run anywhere after the Erasers had finished with him in town. It just doesn't make sense."

The five of us sat there for a moment, Fang and I pushing food around our plates, and all of us trying to work out what the hell was going on.

"Max?" Rob said a little loudly.

I turned to see him walking over. He waited till he'd reached the head of our table before speaking again, asking quietly,

"I don't mean to hassle you...but could you come back and eat. The kids are getting a little antsy with their good sense of smell and...y'know..." I stood up in agreement, falling back down again as my legs gave out, and landing back on the bench a little jarringly. Gritting my teeth, I tried again, a lot slower this time, waving a hand at Rob,

"Sure, sure, sorry - Fang and I will go get cleaned up." Rob gave me a gracious nod and left us, Iggy muttering in imitation of Angel's voice,

"In the same shower...?"

Unfortunately for the Igster, though my physical well-being was a little tarnished, I was still very much (the one, the only) Maximum Ride, and though it was a pathetic swing, I still smacked him over the head; hard enough to shut him up but not enough to miss a flash of that troubling trickster grin...

* * *

**...Ahhh, the end of the chapter...the time of the story where I venture forth into the internet to cross-reference some far-fetched, vaguely interesting, completely useless fact - in case you thought this was a waste of your time, so at least you can say you might've learned something.**

**'By the time you have read this the Earth will have spun you 1450m' - I believe that more then qualifies for my exercise quota this month :P**

**Fly on  
M**


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
My sincerest apolagies if you subscribed to this story and were waiting to for updates. In the last year illness has struck me more times then I got strikes in my home work diary for being late with homework (thanks to writing). I mean, the situations are a little different; instead of danger of detention, there was a slight danger of death.**** But I'm back baby! :D  
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**And now finally, the epicly neglected story continues...only four more installments to go before we reach then end. Will Fax happen? Will Hagen's stash of ice-cream get found? Will extreme fluff and angst occur?  
You, yes you, can find out, by reading on - you wonderful people of FanFiction :3**

* * *

Chapter 8:  
My First Mutant Mystery  
(Mind Read By Angel)

* * *

Max POV

Fang and I had barely made it out the door of the cafeteria when Iggy caught up to us. I frowned at him, opening my mouth to ask what he wanted, but Iggy just slipped an arm around my shoulders, supporting half my weight and informing us that he would be escorting us to the washrooms.

I tried to slip out of his grip, determined to make it there on my own, but as my feet took most of my weight, the small yet sudden return of responsibility for my own body weight, made my legs give out. Iggy only just caught me before I crumpled to the ground. He gave me a stubborn look and I scowled at him, letting him help me along the corridor with a heavy heart - Fang in tow behind us.

We padded along several hallways before turning off into the corridor lined with the kids' over sized bedrooms. Like almost every room on board, these were built to be twice as large as they technically needed to be, claustrophobia still remaining the age-old mutant dilemma.

Iggy helped me hobble along until we reached the very end of the corridor, stopping in front of two doors, one marked girls and one boys. I thanked him briefly leaning away from him and supporting myself heavily on the wall with one hand, briefly noting Iggy's mumble about going to find Fang some clothes. I nodded gratefully, pushing through the bathroom door and trying to get used to walking by myself again.

Shuffling barefoot past the toilets and sinks, I headed towards the large shower cubical. I stripped off the hospital gown and my underwear, making a mental note to borrow Iggy's lighter and burn it all…there was no use in trying to get the school's stink out of the fabric, it left a permanent stain on all the clothes and people it touched.

I turned on the steaming hot water and, making sure to keep bandaged wounds out of the spray, I got to work gingerly scrubbing the antiseptic off of my skin. Once I'd used all the scented lotions and potions the shampoo rack had to offer, I finally turned the water off. Padding over to the towels, I found the hot water relaxing my muscles had made me even more wobbly then before, and was also now blessed with smelling something like an overstocked flower store.

Towel drying my wings and hair, I only got the worst of the water off before wrapping the towel around me and heading for the smaller room where Iggy, Ella, and I usually stayed at weekends. Although I didn't have much in the way of spare clothes there, even if I had to dress up in my combat gear, looking like a ninja would be better then asking Dr M to cut slits in the back of one of her smart shirts.

When I pushed open the door I found Ella inside, rummaging through her draw of clothes. She looked up as I entered, grinning,

"Max - Mum told me your stuff is in the wash, I'm just trying to find something for you…" I smiled at her, trying to stagger gracefully inside, instead of drunkenly stumble,

"Er, thanks, but I have more then one set of clothes Ells," Ella tilted her head,

"Like I said, they're in the wash…" She continued rifling through the draws with a scowl, "I was trying to find- ah," she pulled out one of her dresses, offering it out to me, "it's backless - so you can have your wings out. And you can look cute." She beamed happily but I raised my eyebrows,

"All of my clothes are in the wash?" Ella nodded, turning around to search through the draw underneath as I frowned, "Why? I haven't had to use my combat gear in the last few weeks. Why wash something that's clean?"

"Oh," Ella said sheepishly, "well…I had a clean out and-…" she scowled turning around and throwing the dress at me, "oh just put it on!" I held up the dress, eyeing it carefully. It was loose enough to be comfortable over any injuries, but completely impractical for flying and fighting; not to mention that it usually fell just over Ella's knees but, thanks to my height, it would end up half way up my thigh.

Ella sighed, "your clothes will be dry by tomorrow - wearing a dress just this once won't kill you." I gave her a skeptical look but Ella had her back turned, pulling some garments out of her underwear draw.

At a loss for where to take my argument I suddenly spotted a gold mine - Ella's oversized shirt had slits in the back of it. I say her shirt, last time I remember seeing it, it was on Iggy. Ella turned back around, handing me some underwear, her cheeks glowing bright red when I asked,

"So...is Iggy wearing your clothes too now?" Ella ignored the comment as best as she could, the colour in her face rising as she muttered,

"Mum said they're calling a meeting in ten minutes. You'd better get dressed"…

* * *

Rob's office was at the very front of the observation deck, pretty normal looking unless you looked too closely. It was where most of the CSM adults did their collaboration work, gathering around the large table at the centre of the room, surrounded with land based maps detailing the location of Itex bases.

After I'd changed it took me a few minutes to get up there, and I half thought I was going to be late, but when I opened the door, it was to see that only Fang was inside - looking out the window like a cliche movie scene. He turned around as I closed the door behind me, hands shoved in the pockets of Rob's dress pants, and shockingly also one of Rob's white shirts. It was oversized on Fang, too broad for his skinny shoulders and though it was tucked in to the waist of his trousers, he'd had to wear a belt to keep it in check.

With a little difficulty I tried to assume an upright walking posture, heading for the table at the centre of the room and smirking at Fang,

"Not sticking to all black for a change…" He raised his eyebrows, looking me up and down carefully,

"Says the girl who lives in hoodies." I puffed out my cheeks,

"My spare clothes are in the laundry…Ella's letting me borrow it so I don't have to ruin anything by cutting slits in the back of them for…y'know…" I raised my wings slightly and a shadow of a smile hitched itself onto Fang's face. He looked me up and down again. I raised my eyebrows, waving a hand at his new getup, "what's your excuse?"

"I need an excuse to dress up?" I coughed out a laugh,

"I've never seen you wear any other colour…" Fang shrugged walking over to the table,

"Iggy told me to wear it."

"…Why did he tell you to do that?" Fang raised his eyebrows,

"These were the only clothes spare." I felt my ears catch alight…course, Iggy's clothes would have wing slits in them, he wasn't just dressing Fang up to look nice…not that Fang…I mean he looked nice but-

The sound of the door opening gladly interrupted that train of thought, Rob striding in with an armful of papers and followed by a loose trail of CSM workers.

Everyone filed in, each person adorned with varying levels of tiredness, and Fang walked around the table to stand beside me as the adults gathered around. Rob took up his usual central position, standing opposite Fang and I, and he began to spread out papers over the table. There were some full of numbers or diagrams, some maps, a few piles of Itex data I'd gotten my hands on during my late night rescue missions.

The meeting was more of a show and tell then a discussion, the first matter being the story of how Fang got into working for Itex. Fang told him everything he'd told me, and everyone listened diligently until he finished, no one speaking as they all digested his story. Rob broke the silence after Fang had finished, concluding in a voice still slow with thought,

"Correct me if I'm wrong…but if all that's true…Itex clearly has buildings that we are not aware of. Max has infiltrated several of their branches and the information she collected from their databases shows us that we should've dealt with most local Itex branches." I interrupted before Fang could offer any answer,

"That's not entirely true…before they took Fang and I back to the School, one of the Erasers told me they'd set up all those buildings as bait - they were trying to catch me by using mutants as decoys. It explains all the close calls we've had and the lack of white coats."

There was muttering from around the table, not all of it sounding in favour of mine (or rather the Eraser's) story. I frowned, stoically tapping the desk with my fingers, "if they were decoys, then there might not be any other Itex buildings besides the school." Rob frowned solemnly,

"Maybe Max, I mean it's possible, but we can't know that. I reckon the only place we're going to find some solid fact is in the actual School-" Rob glanced at Fang briefly, "the Institute…whatever you want to call it." He turned back to focus on me, "From what we know, the School has always backed up their data to internal computers…if we can access their hard drives, maybe we can work out a clearer plan of attack."

I felt myself tightening up reflexively. I had just gotten out of that hell hole, he wasn't going to tell me he needed me to go back in was he…?

"How do we do that?" I asked cooly. Rob smiled at me sympathetically,

"I'm not suggesting anything hasty. I do not want to do anything that's going to involve you too much. We've put you through enough by the sounds of it…" Rob turned to look at Fang, "you say this Institute, the School, it's under your high school?" Fang nodded curtly before narrowing his eyes sightly,

"These hard drive files you're looking for - are they under passwords and encryptions?"

"Yeah," I recounted, "they record everything electronically. Jeb told me that they backed it all up every night - the pass codes are changed weekly." Fang tilted his head, pausing a second before saying,

"Then I might know how we can get access to it…."

* * *

Fang's bright idea happened to be, would you believe it, hacking the matrix; well, technically it was the Institute's System Network, but Rob's tech team told us that it might as well have been pill dependent (what with all the dead ends, hidden firewalls, and security settings on par with the Pentagon).

I'd never thought hacking Itex was possible; I mean if their entire operation had stayed hidden from big brother's eyes for years, we were going to need some serious leverage if we wanted to get into their system.

Apparently, or so Fang assured us, that leverage was a person. And that person was his sister. Though Fang's Mum had apparently managed to keep her out the way of Itex, Nudge was the hacker side-kick to Fang's spy-kid complex.

The CSM team wanted to get Nudge's opinion on the plan, but (as it was now well past curfew) Rob refused to wake her up and just demand results. He therefore dismissed the meeting until tomorrow morning. Until then we could all use some R&amp;R.

Truth be told, I was so tired after the whole School escapade, I was craving sleep even more then food for once. But I knew oh too well, that with sleep came dreams; and having been reintroduced to the wonderful world of antiseptic slicked halls, in a house of terrors, I didn't really trust my brain not to throw in a few curve balls. I felt like someone had just rummaged through my memory and smashed the glass jar I'd buried most of my school-life experience in. At the moment, it was taking all I had to just hold back the tidal wave of incidents threatening to flash, fresh and sharp, on the backs of my eyelids.

Either way, I couldn't fight off sleep forever, and (as sleeping in a four walled bedroom wasn't going to make it any easier) I took the easy way out. A lot of the kids I'd just rescued weren't too keen on being shoved in another four walled room, even if it was bigger then usual. So Rob had resolved to build a little conservatory just behind the main work room; glass roofed and with doors that folded in, so that that the entire back wall could be opened to the fresh air. It was the least trapped you could possibly be, while still being inside and vaguely warm.

With a sinking feeling in my stomach I forced myself over to one of the cupboards, pulling out the large duvet and pillows inside. Rob patted me knowingly on the shoulder before leaving, giving me a small smile as I padded over to the conservatory door.

I walked in, dropping the bedding down in a corner and opening up the back door to leave the whole wall open, feeling the rush of chilled breezes lifting off the sea and whisking my hair gently off my shoulders. Taking a deep breath I took a second to steel myself, then grudgingly turned around, flinching as I saw the silhouette in the doorway. It was Fang, one hand still placed gingerly over his ribs and one on the door frame,

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded silently, padding over to my corner and sinking slowly to the floor to curl up. I could feel his eyes on me as I pulled the duvet around myself, his voice prodding awkwardly, "…what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to sleep." I said obviously, bringing my wings gently around me and nestling down as best as I could under the duvet.

"Iggy told me you usually sleep in the same room as him and Ella. You're gonna freeze your ass off if you stay out here…"

"My ass is perfectly fine thank you very much." I said coldly, "Plus, after revisiting a claustrophobic's hell house, I think I'd rather be out here in the cold then inside a small, four walled, three person room…"

There was silence for a few moments, then footsteps, then the click of the office door closing.

I felt my heart plummet guiltily. It wasn't Fang's fault I was screwed up, but here I am snapping at him anyway, like some teenager yelling about the fact that their Mum doesn't understanding them. True he probably didn't understand what it was like to grow up at the school. But that wasn't his fault either.

"Budge over." Fang said from behind me, and I turned around to see him knelt at my side. I stared at him, confused, unmoving as he sat back slowly on his heels, "if you sleep out here on your own, you're just gonna end up dwelling about today…some company might help…" I still didn't move so Fang just chose to settle for where he was, slowly lying down like he was getting into his coffin.

"You okay with your ribs?" I asked carefully.

"Fine." He said shortly, clearly careful of breathing as he moved.

"Fang-" he cut me off stubbornly,

"I said I'm fine." I glared at him but he looked determinately up at the stars through the glass ceiling. A waft of cold air seeping in from the open doors made him shiver, then wince as the movement distubed his ribs. Clearly they were a bit of comfort-problem, not that he'd admit it - proud idiot.

I scooted over to him, pushing a pillow under his head and throwing the duvet over the both of us. Fang mumbled what I assumed was some kind of thanks, and as a silent 'you're welcome' I moved my outside wing, lying it heavily across the both of us and accidentally knocking the wind out of his fragile midsection.

"Really helping the healing process thanks Max." I snorted,

"Humans heal so slowly." His eyebrows knitted together,

"S'xcuse you bird girl, I heal pretty quick."

"Oh really…betcha not faster then me." I looked up ag him to see raised eyebrows, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a smile,

"Yeah? How does four days to fix a broken arm sound?" I narrowed my eyes skeptically,

"…are you sure your human?" Fang snorted silently,

"Pretty sure, Doc said it was just a medical miracle…" I stared at him, wondering if the Doctor had been an Institute health package thing, but Fang rolled his eyes, shaking the idea of mutanthood off and looking up at the night sky through the glass.

"…Y'know how Angel can read minds?" He asked slowly. I nodded, and Fang turned his head to look down at me - he was worried that what he was going to say would be personal and/or offensive, "…what other things can mutants do?" I frowned at him,

"What, you mean like super powers?" Fang gave a barely persceptable nod and I smiled sadly, looking up at the sky in thought,

"…I once knew a guy that could regrow limbs like a starfish…that was back when I was younger at the school…if you're talking about the kids we've got on the boat…well…the oldest feline we've got can drop 15ft like it's nothing…Angel has some freaky talents, as you know- oh and Gazzy, he has these nuclear farts." I looked around to see Fang's eyebrows had disappeared up into his hair,

"…You're kidding..?" I smirked,

"Nope, he used to knock Angel out with them if she kept reading his mind too much." Fang gave a bewildered kind of chuckle,

"…er, nice."

"You are not going to be saying that if he lets one rip," I reassured him, "in fact you're not gonna be saying much of anything." Fang smirked a little, his expression softening slightly,

"So…what can you do?" I drummed my fingers on my stomach, almost feeling a little embarrassed,

"Well…fly…obviously…I s'pose I have this kind of super speed mode." Fang raised his eyebrows, clearly wanting me to go on, and I smiled awkwardly, "The School found out in one of their tests… Apparently, I have a top speed of around 200 miles an hour."

"How the hell do you manage that?" I shrugged,

"I dunno, it's kind of like asking how do you walk - it's not something I really think about. It just happens, I can just flick it on like a switch…"

There was silence for a few seconds, the both of us just staring up at the sky, Fang shuffling slightly closer to me for warmth as another icy breeze rippled through the open doors.

"…How is your sister going to get into the iTex computers?" I asked slowly. Fang grinned proudly,

"She near enough speaks computer - it's really weird. I asked her about it, but she said she'd never learnt how to do it - never got taught to hack or anything, it was more like she was swimming through all the information." He looked at me, bottom lip stuck out a little, "s'pose it's like your super speed…" I frowned, looking back up at the stars with wide eyes,

"There's no way in hell you and Nudge are human - that is _not_ normal. I mean it's good 'not normal,' but still not normal. Ella can't do stuff like that." Fang's looked skeptically at me,

"Maybe...I doubt it, but I haven't actually been tested for animal DNA." I chewed my lip, thinking,

"…maybe tomorrow, while Nudge is fixing up the computer, we can go and see Dr M; just have her check you over. I mean she's a vet, so if anyone could find out it'd be her."

"Sure." Fang said, smiling down at me.

Before I knew what was happening he kissed me on the forehead, his gaze returning skyward before I could process what had happened.

"Night then," he muttered, sighing slowly before closing his eyes. I stared at him, not really sure what to do, but a memory from one of Ella's movies floated to the top of my mind and I lent forwards, pecking him on the cheek and closing my eyes,

"Night."

I could feel my face was red, and I could feel heat ebbing through my feathers like my wings could blush or something - though, that might've just been the hand Fang gently rested on top of the feathers, his palm like a hot water bottle, sending warmth through the entire wing and making it tingle a little.

For some reason it was actually kind of relaxing. I mean, sure, it uprooted all the butterflies in my stomach, but it was more a happy reaction than a nervous one…more a feeling of safety…a sleepy feeling. A feeling that (just like it says on the tin) sent me to sleep more easily then I could've imagined after being at the school less then 24 hours ago…

* * *

I woke up with the sun, just like every day, but unlike every day I found that I was curled up practically on top of Fang; my head on his shoulder, and my wing resting over the both of us. Fang's arm clung loosely around me, his hand brushing my back and his chest still rising and falling slowly, apparently still fast asleep. I raised my head slightly, feeling a pang of guilt at seeing the deep red lines Eraser's claws had dug along his jaw, already starting to heal. The black eye didn't do him any favours, and though he had dark bags of tiredness under his eyes most days, they were now deeper and more purplish in colour. He still had those long eyelashes though, and the cute little mole just below his hair line…

It took me a couple of seconds to register that thought, and couple more to force up barriers that usually kept me safe from lovey-dovey emotions.

Not feeling comfortable in such a ridiculous mental state I gently got up, the duvet shucking down his body a little and waking him up with the cold air. He blinked blearily, squinting at me and rubbing the heel of his palm into his non-black eye as I got to my feet, asking

"…Alright?" I grimaced,

"Uh-huh." I mumbled hurriedly, stepping over the covers and stretching my wings out carefully. Fang yawned, propping himself up on his elbows,

"…-time is it?"

"Probably about 5am" He goggled at me and lowered himself back down under the covers, closing his eyes with a groan,

"It can't be natural for people to wake up this early…" I grinned a little, turning to face the duvet smothered shape,

"I'm not exactly natural, am I Fang?" He popped his head out to frown at me as I turned to shake my wings carefully. My flight muscles were still killing me, and I could feel bruising where the Erasers had trodden on my wings, but none of that seemed very important as I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

I pulled in my wings a little, assuming a defensive position as I turned to look out the open doors. It took me a second to lock onto the object in the sky, and as I zoomed in with raptor vision I found that it was something large, something large that was diving right for the deck of the CSM boat.

On the upside it wasn't an Eraser.

"Fang, up and at 'em!" I said sternly, standing back at the bird kid dropped closer to us, my heart near enough stopping when I recognised the wailing figure in his arms.

The boy landed, blonde hair flying and blue eyes flashing,

"Please," he asked, breathless and looking scared, "please, you have to help me! My friend…" I didn't hear the rest of what he was saying, my entire attention focused on the figure in his arms. Her chestnut wings quivering and her hair a mess, Wren was trembling in his arms, crying and whimpering in pain.

I shot forwards, my legs still unsteady, raising my wings protectively as I tried to pick her tiny body out of his arms. But the boy didn't want to let go of her, his entire posture distrusting the moment I touched her, and with a whole lot of effort I let her go, holding up my hands reassuringly,

"We can help Wren but I'm going to need to take her to the medical bay." I tried to take Wren from him again but still the boy wouldn't give her over, this time actually turning away from me so I couldn't get too close. Wren let out a pitiful whine and I felt a shiver of dread go through me - nothing looked particularly wrong with her but every memory I had of her knew that she was no wimp. She was hurting, and we were wasting time…

"Fine, follow me." I spun around, "Fang, get Dr M to the medical ward. Now." Fang was on his feet already, a hand still on his ribs but rushing through the door into the ship. I followed him, motioning for the boy carrying Wren to follow.

My heart was near enough bleeding for her by the time we'd reached the medical ward, her cries of pain breaking down my emotional barriers and tear trails marking my cheeks by the time we reached the ward.

I led him over to an examination room, warning him about the antiseptic but guaranteeing their safety as I opened the door. He lay Wren down on the examination bed and I tried to hold her hand, but with her eyes screwed up she pulled away from me, clearly frightened.

"What happened?" I asked sharply, the boy looking up from Wren with a worried expression,

"I have no idea, one moment I was carrying her in the air, next she was yelling - I looked for land but saw someone else with wings, made a beeline for you."

Dr M and Rob knocked once then rushed into the room, both wearing medical gloves,

"What happened?" She asked me, approaching Wren and looking for any obvious injuries.

"No idea," I replied, standing aside a little as Dr M bent over Wren, trying to speak to her. Wren however was apparently in too much pain to hear her. Dr M rushed over to a draw, pulling out a syringe and holding it up to the boy who looked ready to hit her,

"I need to give her some pain meds so she can talk to me," The boy looked apprehensive and I gave him a sympathetic look,

"We wouldn't do it unless it was necessary, it'll be okay." The boy hesitated but as Wren cried out again he nodded painfully. Dr M stretched Wren's arm out, motioning for me to help, and I looked at the boy meaningfully. He looked really uncomfortable but placed his hands on Wren's ankles to hold them still, so Dr M wouldn't miss her shot. Dr M strapped the arm she was going to inject down and I held the other.

"NO! NO! LET ME GO!" Wren shrieked, my heart breaking as she struggled, Dr M quickly wiped some antiseptic over the injection sight and sunk the needle in, emptying in the syringe's contents, pulling it out as soon as she could and pressing a cotton ball over it while it clotted. Like water tainted with ink, Wren almost immediately went limp, the pain meds making her muscles relax a little. And after an achingly long minute, she finally she opened her drowsy brown eyes.

"Wren?" I asked, letting go of her arm and bending over her.

"Max…?" Wren asked weakly, tears dripping down the sides of hr face and pooling in her ears. I picked up her hand,

"Hey there baby bird…" My voice was shaking like I was crying. Actually that was probably because I was crying.

"Where…?"

"You're safe sweetie. No white coats, just my friends - we're all on a ship, a long way from Itex." Wren began sobbing and I wiped the tears away gently, "hey, it's okay, you're okay…your friend is here with you…" The boy lent over Wren too and she jumped, trembling a little, and he gave her a very concerned look.

"You okay?" He asked, but Wren shook her head violently.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" I asked, Wren looking at me worriedly, her eyes glazing over for a second before she refocused on me, her head shaking again,

"Nothing, I-…" she relaxed a little against the bed, holding my hand tightly, "…I just can't believe…I'm out" I smoothed her hair,

"Well you are. And I'm going to make sure no one ever hurts you again…" Wren started crying harder. I felt like I was just crushing a load of eggshells trying to cheer her up. I tried to shush her, wishing I could just sit here and hug her but knowing that the pain medication wouldn't last forever, and Dr M needed to know what was wrong with her if she was going to help.

"Wren?" I asked softly, "you were screaming when we got you in here. Are you hurting?" Wren shook her head softly,

"Not anymore." I smiled,

"Good, that's good. What hurt before that?"

"..wings…" she breathed. The boy bit his lip,

"She had a rough week…before we got out…" I frowned at him, but turned back to Wren,

"Sweetie, we can help it stop hurting, but Dr M is going to have to take a look at them. Is that okay?" Wren looked worried and I tried to smile encouragingly. Her bottom lip was trembling but she slowly turned onto her side. Dr M switched on her bedside manner tone, talking to Wren before she did anything and everything,

"Wren, I'm going to straighten out your right wing, is that okay?" Wren didn't answer, curling up slightly and both of her hands reaching out to grip mine. I rubbed the back of her hand comfortingly and gave Dr M a small nod. Gently, Dr took hold of the crest of her wing, Wren flinching away from her at first, biting her lip as her feathers were shifted apart. Dr M grew pale, moving the wing up a little higher till Wren cried out and wrenched it out of her hands.

"I'm sorry Wren, I think it's fractured. There some cuts that need cleaning, and this disinfectant is going to sting but I need you to bare with me. Okay…?" Wren nodded, tears beading along her eyelashes quietly as Dr M got to work, the boy asking slowly,

"Her chip isn't damaged is it?" I looked up at him,

"Why does she have a chip?" The boy gave me a strange look,

"All mutants have one." I stared at him,

"What are you talking about?" The boy raised his eyebrows, reeling his words off like he was a walking textbook,

"All mutants have a chip implant, usually in their arm, and it's what keeps them alive. Human bodies usually can't integrate animal DNA too long, neither can most experiments, but the chip regulates what happens in the body so they don't reject the animal DNA. It often has side effects, including what some may regard to be super human abilities, and these often come about as an environmental need catalysing an adaptation." I goggled at him, not sure what to ask first…

"All mutants have these?" I started with. The boy nodded but as I opened my mouth again his attention was defected by Dr M pulling off her gloves,

"Okay, we're all done, that was very brave of you Wren." Wren didn't move, tucking her wings back in tentatively, and still clutching my hands. Dr M gave me a knowing look but turned away from me, saying softly,

"Wren why don't you go with…er-" Dr M looked at the boy who supplied,

"Dylan." Dr M smiled at him,

"Why don't you and Dylan go down to the canteen and get some food - Rob will show you where it is." Wren shivered but I gave her hand a squeeze,

"I'll be down in two seconds, promise." Wren gave me a very doe in the headlights look but her eyes glazed over for a second again and she eventually nodded, getting up off the bed. She couldn't really support her own weight, the drugs obviously making her a little light headed, and so the Dylan boy carefully picked her up, waited till she'd secured her arms around his neck, then Rob led the way outside.

The door closed and I waited till I knew they'd be out of raptor-hearing range before turning to Dr M,

"What is it?" Dr M bit her lip,

"Did you see Wren's wings?" I shook my head and Dr M looked like she was trying to swallow a mouthful that was likely to make her choke, "she's…she's had them clipped. She'll never fly again." A well of nausea rose up my throat and I gritted my teeth but Dr M's expression told me she wasn't finished.

"Anything else?" I asked, something bubbling in my stomach - whether it was horror or anger I couldn't quite work out yet…

"Yes…" Dr M said softly, "there's very deep scalpel marks under her feathers, covering most of the wing's surface area…"

I ran my fingers through my hair. Mother of God what had the School been doing to her? Had this been happening all the time I'd been looking for her? Had they clipped her wings just after I'd left? Was this my fault?…Of course it was my fault, but-

"Max?" Dr M asked carefully. I exhaled forcefully,

"I'll..I'll talk to her about it…I don't know where she's been since I last saw her." Dr M nodded dolefully, squeezing my shoulder once,

"I'll come with you down to the cafeteria." I hadn't told her much about Wren, hell I hadn't told CSM more then they needed to know - I didn't want to broadcast my sop story. But Dr M knew, as did Rob and Ella, that Wren was the runt of the litter (out of the all my flock); and as much as she needed me, the motivation to keep going in that place for so many years, that was all her. And then I lost her, I lost her the moment I told her and Iggy to run out that door, so long ago…

* * *

Down in the canteen, Angel was sitting opposite Wren with Fang, and I watched as Wren's eyes followed Dylan as he went into the kitchen for more food. Smiling briefly at the three of the I strode past, thinking that it might be best to ask someone more emotionally stable about Wren's condition, then bring it up with the bird kid herself.

I opened the door to see him standing in the middle of the kitchen, apparently clueless as to where to go.

"Take as much as you need." I said, Dylan turning around in surprise, but with a nod from me carefully picking his way through cupboards, apparently trying to be polite as I stood against the counter - both keeping an eye on Wren through the window in the door, and guarding my cookie jar. Dylan nodded, shuffling around in the kitchen for food as Wren nibbled away at a piece of dry toast.

"Thank you," Dylan said, bringing my focus back to him as he grimaced, "I was pretty worried about her." I smiled,

"Hey, you're the one who got her out the institute, I should be thanking you." Dylan held out his hand,

"Call it quits?" I smiled, shaking his hand,

"Sure." He grinned, his hand dropping back to his side,

"So, you are…?."

"Max." I pointed through the door's window, knowing our little dark haired chatterbox probably wasn't the sort to make introductions, "oh, and the guy who was with me when you landed, that's Fang."

Dylan grinned, but his expression faltered as I asked, "what happened to Wren?" He sighed, turning around to look at me directly, talking under his breath so Wren couldn't hear with her raptor hearing,

"She's been like that since I met her." I raised an eyebrows,

"Not to be blunt, but how exactly did you help her?" Dylan shrugged,

"She's always been really nervous and stuff - the only reason I really know her is she was in the crate next to mine."

"How did you both get out?" I asked, "Fang and I got out of an iTex recently and we looked a lot worse then you..." Dylan smiled, knocking his knuckles on his arm which clanged like metal,

"Pros of being a cyborg. They pulled me from a car wreck and rebuilt most of me - adding a few extra bits obviously." Dylan shuffled his wings pointedly, shrugging, "I'm kind of half technology…it's difficult to explain…but I hacked Itex's system to get our crate doors open. I unlocked everyone's but kept Wren with me as we got out - she didn't seem like she'd make it alone and she really kept me going at the school, kept me sain, y'know?" I stared at him,

"You hacked the entire building?" Dylan grimaced,

"I only managed our floor - our crates were electronically controlled like the doors. I just made everything open up, grabbed Wren and ran. It took a good few weeks of not really sleeping, but I decrypted the firewall - even scrambled the alarm systems to give everyone the best chance." I blew out my cheeks,

"Impressive." He grinned, going back to getting out food and saying,

"I'll look after Wren for a while if you want," I felt my gut give an uncomfortable twang, "I'm sure you have a lot to do around here." He took a hearty bite out of an apple but I held up my hands,

"No no, it's fine, I got this." Dylan gave me a pitying look,

"Max, Wren told me all about you; how you used to look after her, after everyone at the school - but it's not your job-"

"Doesn't matter." I said, cutting across him, "I lost her once. I won't let her out my sight that easily again." Dylan held up his hands,

"Okay, just asking." I bit my lip, feeling a little guilty for snapping at him, and trying to ease up my tone,

"I'll leave you to it then." Dylan gave me a weak smile and I left the kitchen, walking over to Wren to see her empty plate and a forced smile.

Thankfully breakfast had been an hour ago, and most of the kids had finished and left, leaving the hall occupied only by one or two other mutants, a few of whom waved as I passed.

Fang had disappeared, Gazzy taking his place beside Angel, where the two go them sat opposite a very uncomfortable looking Wren - possibly because it looked like they were forcing her to try and compete for 'best bambi eyes of the year'.

"Heya" I said, Gazzy looking up and smiling at me as I plonked down on the bench next to Wren. The two girls however just kept staring at each other, unmoving - Wren looking wary and Angel's eyes almost glazed over. I glanced at Gazzy who shrugged, occupying himself with the bundle of wires in his lap as I gently touched Wren's shoulder but she still wouldn't move. Didn't even blink.

"Ang," I asked slowly, Angel tilting her head to show she was listening, "what's going on?" Angel blinked, a little creepily, then looked at me soberly, Wren looking down at the toast in front of her like she'd just come out a trance and was trying to work out where she was.

_Max something's wrong._

I gave Angel a pointed look, but Angel shook her head,

_Something's wrong with Wren's head._

I grimaced,

_Angel she's been through a lot recently-_

_No it's not that. It's…_ (she shook her head) _I'll tell you later._

And with that, Angel hopped off the bench and waved goodbye as she left the canteen - Gazzy too engrossed in his pyrotechnics to follow. I tried to focus back on Wren, pushing Angel's comment to the back of my mind as Dylan reemerged from the kitchen, carrying a tower of toast for Wren and another for himself. I smiled as he dropped Wren's plate on the table, trying to sound upbeat as I asked Gazzy,

"Why don't you show Dylan where he can stretch his wings later?" Dylan grinned, picking up his pile of toast and nodding gratefully,

"Sure. You two can catch up…" I smiled at him appreciatively and Gazzy got up with a sigh, leading Dylan along at a plod, still fiddling with the bundle of wires.

The door closed behind them and I looked down to see a very gloomy Wren. I pushed the plate of toast towards her, grinning,

"Have as much as you want kiddo, we've gotta get you onto a proper calorie-crammed bird-kid diet." Wren smiled faintly, picking up the toast tentatively and taking a small bite…

* * *

It took Wren a long time to eat, munching away in tiny mouthfuls and leaving me to just sit and talk. And talk, and talk….and talk. I was turning into freaking Ella.

I told her about how I'd landed in Dr M's garden, how I'd joined the CSM. Told her all about the searches for Ari, and every single one of the kids we had here - everything from their favourite teddies, to sports teams, to friendship groups. I also told her about Ella, Nudge, and school (the one for normal people). Then of course there was Fang, but by that point I was rambling, half unaware of what I how little I was saying in my head and how much I was blabbing out loud,

"I mean he's an attractive guy, I'm not going to lie. But I know you can just appreciate someone for their looks, so is that what's going on...I mean I've see some pretty boys at school, but it's not like I wanna date them. It's not like Fang would want to date me. I mean maybe, it'd be cool if something should happen but…I just never considered it. Ari was more important and people were assumed dangerous. I mean I thought this guy Sam was pretty hot in my P.E but I'd never asked him out cause it was too risky in case my jumper slipped and he saw my wings - I mean that would be one hell of a rumour to handle. But I don't have to worry about that with Fang, he seems pretty fine with them; he even did that thing where you straighten out someone's feathers, you know like I used to do for you? Oh my god it's awesome, no wonder it helped you sleep. I would've gotten Ella to do it if I thought it'd be that relaxing. But then again maybe it's just him. Him and his fancy pants clothes looking all nice and…maybe I should ask-"

"Max?" Wren asked, snapping me out of my rant instantly and I smiled at her expectantly. Before she could say anything however, the cafeteria door opened and we both turned to see a breathless Iggy in the doorway. He stepped into the room, slowly treading towards us, like he was moving as slowly as possible to look for as long as possible at another flock member. He sat down next to her, quietly asking,

"Wren?" He looked scared to touch her, as if he'd frightened her off or dispel the dream that she was, but Wren pulled Iggy into a frail hug and, bless him, our little ginger ninja started crying…

* * *

Fang POV

The door of the high ceilinged playroom opened and Angel came in, glancing at all the kids playing tag but then padding over to me and Iggy.

"How's she doing?"

"Wren? Angel asked, "she's with Max, she'll be fine…"

"Wait the girl's name is Wren?" Iggy asked, wide eyed. I nodded, having recounted the story to him earlier not realising I'd missed that detail. Iggy stared between Angel and I, "tiny girl, brown hair, wings?" I nodded,

"Yeah, why?" Iggy ran a hand through his hair,

"We grew up together…I- I've got to go…" He got to his feet, running towards the door as it opened to reveal Dylan and Gazzy. Gazzy tried to catch Iggy's attention but watched indignantly as he completely ignored him and sprinting out the door.

"Fang?" asked the small voice next to me, Angel's small face scrunched up in concern.

"Uuhmm?" Angel looked up at me with very wide eyes beckoning to me, her voice echoing in my head,

_I don't like Dylan…_

I didn't like him either. I didn't know what it was but there was something off about him; too straight teeth or too blue eyes, I couldn't really place it, but there was definitely something not right.

Angel shook her head,

_I don't like the girl either._

I frowned at her. Wren didn't strike me as that bad. She'd clearly gone through a lot but she'd surely get better - from the looks of the rest of the kids running around, if anyone can help her it's Max. Angel shifted on her feet childishly, her expression almost too old for her tiny face.

_She has all these mind blocks up. Max does it when she doesn't want me to know what she's thinking, but these aren't made by her. Someone put them there. I can't get anything from her - Max's mind blocks fall if you really push at them, but I know she puts them up for a reason so I don't bother. But Wren's, they won't budge…_

I frowned at Angel, thinking hard at her,

_So what, do you think she's dangerous?_

Angel shook her head,

_It doesn't feel like she knows she's got them. The person who put the mind blocks up there might be though - you can't just program them into somebody_.

I clenched my jaw… looking at her seriously,

_Why don't we go and ask Dr M, she examined Wren, maybe she knows something we don't?_

Angel nodded, hesitating a moment before taking my hand, waiting while I got up, and then walking by my side as we headed for the medical bay…

* * *

When we arrived, Angel located Dr M, leading me into an examination room where she was sat at a desk, staring avidly at a computer screen. When we entered, and she realised who it was, Dr M stood up, asking if she could X-ray the both of us for a comparison sample. Angel nodded happily, updating Dr M on our conversation while she worked.

Dr M collected her scans, and while Angel sat on the side of the examination bed, swinging her feet over the edge, Dr M beconed me over to look at her computer screen, saying,

"I took an x-ray of Wren's bones - her wings were fractured in several places." I grimaced sympathetically and Dr M pointed to the image of what looked like an arm bone with a small dot floating in the muscle, "the scan also showed up with this. Dylan told us it's a little chip, and it's pretty much the secret ingredient for making mutants. That little chip is what gives Angel the power to read minds…" I raised my eyebrows, Dr M holding up a finger, "Oh it gets weirder…" she clicked on another image, bringing up an X-ray image of a human arm, "that's an x-ray of my arm," she pointed to half way along her forearm, "the chip would be there." she cycled through to another picture, this one containing a dot where she'd been pointing, "see, it's there in Angel's X-ray, but…" she cycled through to an identical picture looking frazzled, "this is an X-ray of your arm Fang." I frowned at the green image,

"I have a chip…?" Dr M nodded, and I screwed up my eyes, rubbing my forehead, "...does that explain this…" I pressed the invisibility button on my belt and both Dr M and Angel flinched as I vanished, waving a hand and suddenly reappearing. Dr M blinked slowly,

"So you're part…chameleon?" I shrugged,

"Max and I were talking about that. I can do that with the belt, and Nudge can do stuff with technology - I mean she's never had lessons on hacking or anything but she got into the school system via her phone, making herself the only girl in a class full of boys for a load of her subjects." Dr M raised her eyebrows comically,

"Well…that's, um, impressive." She exhaled slowly, "…Fang, you don't think I could take a DNA sample do you? Just to check you're not a mutant - I mean, I don't know of any animals with skills in computing, but it's worth a shot at least." I nodded and she stood up, going over to a cupboard full of instruments, and handing me a swab to take a saliva sample.

I handed it back and she placed it in a sterile container as Angel hopped off the bed, announcing that she was off to find Gazzy.

Dr M advised me to talk to Max about Dylan; not to necessarily warn her, but at least discuss my trust issues with the most reliably paranoid girl on the boat…

* * *

**...And for the first time in a year, I've reached the end of another chapter!  
That beautiful time where I spend an hour or two browsing the internet to try and search for the most intresting, and possibly most far-fetched fact, to ever be graced by those stars in your beautiful eyes...  
Also, it's a little offering of knowledge, in case my writing has gone to shit over the last year and you've wasted many precious minutes you'll never get back - so at least at the end of this catastrophe you can say you've learned something (other then to never read any of my writing again):**

**There is a religion called Pastafarianism where the deity is, and I quote, '**The Flying Spaghetti Monster**'  
Its a religion about pasta, and it allows religious followers to wear collinders on their heads for passport photos - it's crazy, google it xD  
**

**Fly on  
M**


	9. Chapter 9

**May I present...****The Roll Call of 'People-Doing-Whiz-Bang-Things-After-Last-Chapter'**

**The Fabulous Favouriter:  
littlelyingmilly**

**And the Awesome Alerter:  
****TheLigerNinja**

**Thanks be to you two, you oh so wonderful people ^-^**

* * *

Chapter 9:  
When the Chips Are Down, You Know Who'll Be There  


* * *

Max POV

Wren was still silent unless spoken to by the evening, so to coax her out of her shell, I tried to introduce her to a few of the other kids on the ship. It always helped the newbie mutants (fresh out of iTex) to mingle with their own kind, it tended to reassure them that it was safe here.

Funnily enough, out of all the many mutants I introduced her to, Wren only seemed comfortable with Angel; and despite what the little six year old had told me about not liking Wren, Angel seemed perfectly happy to offer her some crayons for drawing. Since then, Wren had taken to following Angel around. She didn't show much intrest in any of the activities we had set up for the kids, but she seemed content to just sit while Angel drew - listening and offering a few nods when conversation was breached.

When I was sure she was feeling happier, I finally stopped watching her like a hawk and turned my attention to the kids playing tag . They'd been nagging me to join in for the best part of an hour and, though I was still a little sore from my escape from the school, knowing Wren was settled I finally gave in to their bambi eyed faces and ran over. I only had to run slowly to stay out of arms reach, and after a few close calls the kids got fed up and concentrated on leaving me the only one untagged - all so they could all tackle me in a final take down that knocked me off my feet.

True enough I went down like a bowling pin, letting them get a laugh out of piling on top of me as I fell flat on my back, playfulling wapping a few of them over the head with my wings in mock protest and complaining. That was until a familiar face came into view. I momentarily forgot to struggle as he stood over me, eyes sweeping over the mutant pile before meeting mine,

"Need some help?" I scowled at Fang as a couple of the kids sniggered, huffing proudly,

"I am exactly where I want to be." He raised an eyebrow, one side of his mouth twitching up in a smile and making my stomach lurch slightly. I swallowed awkwardly, inadvertedly dumping a load of butterflies into my stomach as I started to stand. Most of the kids got off, but a few with claws clung onto my dress, hanging off me as I got to my feet, frowning at them,

"Guys, these aren't my clothes, you shouldn't poke holes Ella's stuff..." They reluctantly let me go, backing off and waiting for me to restart the game. But I could feel Fang's eyes still on me, and felt a selfish need to leave as a little feline girl jumped up onto my back, giggling,

"Your cheeks are all red Maaax! You embaressed we got you down?" My stomach gave another flip as I reached over my head and picked her off my back, holding her over my head as she grinned.

"Maybe," I said, feeling a rumbling from her ribs as she purred happily, "and since I've been defeated, I guess I'd better get back to work..." I lowered her to the floor, gently, and turned to Fang, but the girl caught me off gaurd by jumping straight into my chest and I had to throw out my wings to steady myself as she clung to my shoulders. Trying to ignore the little bump my heart gave against my ribs as Fang goggled at my full wingspan, I concentrated on the girl pleading,

"Maaaax…" I picked her up and off me, with a hand under each arm, and held her at arms length, smiling sadly,

"Sorry sweetie but play time's over..." The feline mutant flicked her tail sulkily but when I placed her back on her feet she bounded back into the new game of tag with the others.

I walked, with Fang in tow, over to one of the quieter corners of the room.

"Wren doing okay?" He asked quietly, looking around the room full of mutants. I nodded over at Angel, who lay on the floor next to a cross legged Wren, happily scribbling away while Wren stared down at Angel's drawing with knitted eyebrows. I sighed,

"I think she's good for now...Angel seems to have taken her on as a sidekick." Angel looked up at this, apparently hearing her name from this far away (or more likely hearing it through my thought patterns). She waved, Wren giving me a weak smile as I waved back.

"The kids really seem to love you." Fang said solidly. I turned away from Wren and grimaced at him,

"Well, I was the one who got them out of you-know-where."

"Yeah, but you make an effort to make them happy now they're out." I smiled,

"Rob, Dr M, and Ella looked after me, when I first got out. I know having someone there means a lot when you're coming from somewhere like-..." I looked for the right code word but none came to mind. I shrugged it off, "I think it's cause they feel like they can depend on me - Jeb used to tell me that I needed to be like that, to keep them going and feeling safe." Fang looked at me carefully,

"So, everyone depends on you?" I tilted my head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, looking up at Fang as he asked, "who do _you_ depend on? Them?" I snorted, looking away from him resolutely,

"God no, I can't put my problems on their plate - they've all been through enough. No, I try to depend on me." I could more sense then see Fang frowning at me. I sighed, "it's safer that way, for everyone…" Fang paused for a second, stating rather quietly,

"…well, I'm here when you need me." I slung an arm around his back,

"I know, and I really appreciate it." He drew his arm around my shoulders, looking at me for a second before leaning down to whisper in my ear,

"Can I talk to you in private." My stomach dropped through the floor at his sudden change of tone, and cupid started running around my head, chucking ideas this way and that. With a huge effort I kept my expression neutral, giving him a short nod,

"Top deck alright?" Fang said nothing but I took that as a yes, walking fowards and reluctantly dropping the arm slung around his back, leading him up and outside…

* * *

FANG POV

My arm fell from Max's shoulders as she dropped her loose grip around my back, leading the way through the ship to a more secluded spot. After climbing many steps we emerged into afternoon sunlight, Max looking back over her shoulder at me,

"If we go to the very end, that should be far enough away to keep out of ear shot of our mind readers." I gave her a barely there smile, catching up a few paces to walk by her side.

She fell back slightly, but I thought nothing of it until I heard an ear splitting shriek of pain. I whipped around to see her crumple, falling to the floor and curling up in a tight ball, wings drawn around her like a cocoon.

"Max!" I ran towards her and dropped to my knees, "what's wrong?!"

She didn't answer me, hell with the sounds of pain she was making, I wasn't even sure she could hear me. I tried to pull her wings back to see if i could make out what was hurting her, but clearly human strength was nothing compared to wing muscles. From what I could see through the gap between her feathers she was clutching her head, face screwed up in agony, her entire body jerking every now and again like she was being given electric shocks.

I got to my feet - I wasn't in any state to carry her with me, I needed help.

I ran to the door, jumping most of the flight of steps and ignoring the sharp protest of pain in my ribs, sprinted down the ship, yelling for help. After pelting down several corridors I found Ella who helped me get some of the the adults. They followed me back up above deck, as she ran off to get Dr M to the medical wing.

We got to the bottom of the steps leading up to the top deck, Max's cries barely muffled by the wings she'd drawn tightly around herself. When we reached her, she refused to be moved from her balled up position, so it took me and three of the adults to carry her inside.

We sped downstairs, heading for the medical ward, and I found myself muttering words of comfort as we rushed along the corridors. When we opened the doors, it wasn't just to see Dr M. It seemed like half the ship had turned up. Rob stood by Nudge and Ella, both of whom looking worried as I felt, and Iggy's expression was stone cold as he ran forwards, helping us set her down on a gurney bed. There were a lot of kids around, including Angel, who held the hand of a very tired looking Wren. Dylan stood slightly apart from everyone else, but looked just as concerned as every one of the kids crowded in here.

"What happened?" Dr M asked, trying to pry Max's wings from around her to see if there was any damage.

"Nothing." I said quickly, "we were up on the top deck and she just collapsed." Dr M frantically rushed over to the head of the bed and wheeled it forwards, raising her voice so the crowd of mutants would stand back,

"Coming through!" Everyone parted like water, splitting down the centre as Dr M pushed Max into a what looked like a surgery room. Only Iggy, Nudge, Ella, and I followed her, Rob shutting the door behind us and staying outside - trying to keep the kids calm despite Max's cries of pain.

Dr M instructed Iggy to get her wings away from her face, unable to do the job herself, and, with difficulty, Iggy pried them apart. Max had bitten through her bottom lip in an attempt to keep quiet, and there was barely any colour in her face except for the trickle of blood dripping from her lip and down her chin. She'd dug her finger nails into her forehead, leaving cresent shaped red marks dotted all over, adding insult to injury with the tear tracks running freely over her cheeks.

"-HEAD" Max half shouted through gritted teeth, making a pained noise in her throat as Dr M gently lifted up her head, feeling around it.

"Were you hit in the head?" Dr M asked, fidgeting nervously as Max ground out,

"-NO! JUST HAPPENED"

"It's not internal is it?" Iggy asked, his expression still solid but his voice trembling a little. Dr M didn't answer, her eyes darting around Max's face, clearly thinking. Nudge reached out a hand to Max, apparently trying to comfort her, but as soon as she touched her skin she yelped, staring in disbelief,

"It's not her head," Nudge looked from Max to her own hand, "I..I can't explain it, but I something feels wrong in her arm…it feels like some kind of tech, like when I can feel that a computer has a virus…"

"Can you fix it?" Iggy asked frantically. Nudge shook her head, panicked tears beading on her eyelashes,

"No -I can't do anything without a keyboard..."

"It's got to be the chip," Dr M stated.

My heart dropped, burning like it was melting in my stomach acid. Dylan had said mutants can't survive without a chip. Max's body wouldn't cope, it couldn't cope, no matter how strong she is...it'd reject her avian DNA.

I rolled up my sleeve, feeling like I was making a reckless split second decision, but also not particularly caring,

"Take my chip out and give it to her." Dr M stared at me sharply,

"Fang mutants die without their chip,"

"I can only turn invisible, as long as I don't try I'll be fine. Max can't just take off her wings." Dr M flinched as Max let out a repressed shriek, and she turned to face me more fully, her voice more hurried then sharp,

"Fang, that chip was implanted when you were very young - if I extract it you could loose the use of your arm at best. We don't actually know if you're human enough for your body to cope-"

"Only me, Nudge, and Iggy has one in this room-" I said, cutting across her, "Iggy can't take off his wings either and we need Nudge to hack the Institute. I can loose an arm - we can't loose Max." Dr M hesitated for a second, but as Max gave a muffled scream she nodded, beckoning me over to the operating table at the side of the room, and raising her voice over Max's cries of pain, her voice a little watery but firm,

"Ella, get me two bags of valium and cannulas." Ella pulled on a pair of medical gloves and rushed over to a cupboard. Dr M gesturing for me to get up on the metal table. I lay down on the cool silver surface as Ella came back over, Dr M strapping my arm down.

Max started writhing and Iggy was instructed to hold her still, Nudge strapping her down with velcro to keep her from hurting herself. Dr M tied a torniquet to my arm, hurridly finding a vein and inserting the needle of the canula. Taking some tape from Ella she secured it, and I heard the click of the IV valium being plugging in. Dr M sorted out the drip, Ella hanging the bag on a hook above me, and I watched as the drug zipped down the tube and into my bloodstream.

I got a warm feeling at the back of my neck, like someone had poked me, and ripples from their touch sent stronger and stronger waves of relaxation through every muscle.

The lights began to twinkle brightly. Turning my head I saw Max, strapped to the gurney, her image swimming in front of me like a disturbed reflection.

Before I knew it Dr M was beside me, saying something about local anaesthetic, and I felt a sharp scratch on my arm before the entire limb went numb.

I didn't really know how much time passed, nothing really made sense on the valium; we'd learnt at school how it works, but everything felt a little dreamier then I'd expected.

I wasn't aware of much around me, apart from the fact I felt a bit heady.

I'm fairly sure I started babbling at some point, Dr M began swimming in front of my vision, and after a while I realised she was speaking to me. I grinned at her,

"Sorrrie, can you saay dat again?." I hiccuped.

"I got the chip in Max, she's fine." I beamed,

"Oh that's just…awesome. Max?!" A hoarse voice responded,

"Yeah?" I opened my mouth to reply but Dr M waved a hand in front of my face distracting me,

"Fang? I need you to move your fingers." I grinned at her, hiccuping again,

"No problemo, queen conholeio…"

* * *

Max POV

"WHAT. THE. HELL. FANG!?" I stood up on the top deck, next to a certain black haired idiot. Dr M had ordered us to get some fresh air, and seeing as I'm up at the crack of dawn I dragged Fang with me as soon as the sun came up. He clenched his jaw and glared at me,

"What was I supposed to do Max?!" I scowled at him, not having an answer, my eyes focusing back on his arm in the sling - the one that would no longer move. Fang was staring at me,

"You were going to die, and now we're both clearly fine!" Fang looked between my arm and his, "I'm just a little less…handy." I glared, wanting to hit him but needing to yell at him more,

"Did you ever stop to think that you might die without your chip?!" Fang snorted,

"Says the bird girl to the human." I balled my hands into fists, angrily,

"Oh, cause all humans have powers of invisibility?" He rolled his eyes, agitated,

"Look, it's done now. And you know what? I'm glad I did it." I scoffed, holding out my hand for him to shake,

"You're right, shall we call it a truce." Fang stared at the hand I'd held out, the one he'd usually shake with his left arm, the one that no longer works.

Before he could try and make a botched job of trying to use his still functional hand I pulled mine away, "Well if you don't want to call it even, that's oookay. Fine by me." Fang glared, snapping at me,

"Why are you so angry at me for this?!"

"Because, however small of a chance you keep telling me it was, you could've died! And I don't like people sacrificing themselves for me!" He took a step closer,

"Well tough luck! Because I'm sorry to break it to you Max, but people care about you." I clenched my jaw as he loomed over me, "you honestly think, that if any one of the kids on this boat were in my position, that they would've let you die?" I scowled at him,

"That's not the point."

"Well then what is?!" He half shouted.

I didn't say anything and he raised his eyebrows aggressively, shouting, "you gonna tell me?! Cause I'm not a mind reader!" It was both terrifying and heart warming to hear Fang defend my life, but I lowered my voice and stood my ground,

"The point is, that I care about you too much. I don't want you getting hurt thanks to me - not after all the pain I've caused you..." Fang sighed heavily,

"So now you understand what I was going through, when the Institute put me on a mission where someone I care about, was in serious danger of getting hurt. And, oh yeah, that person ended up getting the crap beaten out of them and then kidnapped thanks to my work."

I opened my mouth, then closed it, not knowing what else to say. I looked down at my arm with Fang's chip in. After one nights rest it didn't hurt all that much, Dr M had stitched the both of us up, the only difference was that my arm still worked.

As Fang snorted I looked up, glaring at him, daring him to counter me again. He shot me a half smile,

"That's twice I've saved your ass now...damsel in distress." I punched him, hard, and he stumbled back, wincing but not retaliating as I muttered,

"Call me that again and I will kill you." Fang righted himself, rolling his eyes, but rejoining me as I lent over the ship's rails, my thoughts gravitating back to what I could remember before I collapsed.

"Before my chip malfunctioned...what were you going to tell me?" Fang grimaced, turning around to lean his back against the railing,

"What do you know about Dylan?" I shrugged,

"He's part cyborg. He helped Wren out of the Institute. That's about it." Fang frowned,

"It's just I've got a funny feeling about him. There's something not quite right. I mean he suddenly appears on our ship, carrying someone you've specifically been looking for for ages...considering Itex used the kids on this boat as bait in the past-" Fang's forehead creased in thought, "wait, did you say he was part cyborg?" I nodded,

"Yeah. Told me he hacked into the school's mainframe from his crate to get him and Wren out." I gave him an uncertain look, following his train of thought, "you think Itex made him hack my chip?" Fang scowled,

"Well, if he managed to get out the school wirelessly...but if he wanted you to kick it, then he could've threatened to shut down all the kids chips - why target you directly? Theoretically we have loads of chips on hand to replace yours with - like I said, there are plenty of people here who'd give their lives for you." I shifted uncomfortably at that thought, staring out over the ocean,

"...Maybe iTex told him not to destroy any more experiments…or maybe…you don't think he knew that you and Nudge had a chip, do you?" Fang shrugged,

"I s'pose it's on the Itex database." I tapped my foot, thoughtfully,

"Cause if he can wirelessly hack computers, and he was looking around our networks today, then he might've found out Nudge was trying to hack Itex - I mean she was helping Rob out when I went down wasn't she? Maybe the whole thing was to stop Nudge…but then there's still you left over who could provide a chip…or maybe that was the plan, maybe he's targeting you...?" Fang's eyebrows disappeared into his hair skeptically,

"I doubt it. I'm not that threatening unless I stay absolutely still, and even then I'm human..." Fang scuffed the ground with his shoe in thought, "D'you think we need to find a way to contain him or something?" I shook my head,

"If he can hack things wirelessly, there's no point, he could just broadcast our location to Itex and finish us off…but that's another thing. If he was going to order a mass capture, or even just kill me, you'd think he'd have contacted Itex to get their asses over here and get the job done with a load of Erasers." Fang ran his one working hand through his hair distractedly,

"Well, whatever it is, we should watch him." I nodded, rubbing my forehead as it ached slightly, noticing as I did that a concerned look crossed Fang's face.

"I'm fine," I said automically, "it's still aching a little from yesterday." Fang looked down at his feet,

"That was really scary y'know." I snorted,

"Try feeling like your head's going to split open." Fang gave a sarcastic huff,

"Hate to break it to you Max, but your head stayed in one piece the entire time." I rolled my eyes,

"I said it _felt_ like it" Fang gave me a small smile.

I looked at him, watching for his face to return to its expressionless mask, but his smile and eye contact held strong. I raised my eyebrows in confusion, "What?"

Fang said nothing, looking away with his barely there smile, but I did hear a voice incredibly close say,

_Maximum? Can you hear me?_

I looked around, scanning my surroundings for the speaker. No one was there. But again, I heard someone speak, like they were inches from my ear,

_It's okay Maximum. You're not crazy._

"Max are you alright?" Fang asked cautiously.

"Er…I think...I'm hearing voices." He stared at me as I whipped around, trying to pin point the source as it spoke again,

_You're going to want to go downstairs - Wren's in danger._

I bit my lip, unsure what to do.

"What's it saying?" Fang asked carefully.

"That...that Wren's in danger," I repeated quietly, "that I should go downstairs…you didn't by any chance hear voices before the chip was out did you?" Fang shook his head, the both of us jumping to attention as there was a massive

BOOM!

The sound of snapping metal echoed across the water and the boat rocked precariously. I fell into Fang as the deck tilted, and finding my footing again I caught him staring at me,

"Please don't tell me you're getting the power to see into the future…" I gritted my teeth, turning around to head for the stairs, shouting,

"Come on!"

I jumped down the steps, Fang on my heels as we ran down the corridor. Beyond the closed doors ahead, my raptor hearing picked up the faint sounds of shrieking and barking. I sped up, my heart throbbing as I heard the sickening sound of Erasers snarling from one of the play rooms. Skidding to a halt, Fang and I burst through the door, barreling into the play room.

There was a large hole in the side of the ship, luckily showing deep blue sky on the other side instead of deep blue sea. Any comfort that gave me was washed away however, seeing seven Erasers, fully morphed and stalking towards the kids. Wren, Angel, Gazzy and most of the reptilian kids were grouped up against the wall like sheep, most of them trying to be brave and stand ready for a fight, but none of them looking like they could last very long in one.

The Erasers turned around at hearing the door bang open, and I wasted no time in spreading my wings and jumping, turning on super speed as I flew at the closest one in a kick.

I still sore all over, and my left arm with its new chip starting to throb as I threw a punch that an Eraser caught, using my fist like a handle to fling be up and away across the room. Having my wings out I managed to right myself in the air, landing on all threes in a crouch, my chipped arm pulled against my chest protectively. I jumped up hearing an Eraser coo,

"Oooh, look, this one's only human." Fang had tried to throw a right handed punch, and like me it'd been grabbed before it got within a foot of the Eraser's fur. He grinned down at Fang, showing his yellow teeth, and looking like he'd found a baby bird with a broken wing. He punched Fang in the chest, fist connecting with his sling and Fang dropped to his knees with a pained cry - his fist still in the Eraser's grip as I launched myself in the air again.

While the Eraser holding Fang gestured for the rest of the hounds to start on the kids I was flying towards him, distracting his dogs from the kids as I landed feet first on his head, sending him down with a shrill whine.

The Eraser was knocked out cold, and Fang rolled out the way as the other Erasers launched themselves at me. A fist flew towards my face and I dodged it, pulling myself up into a jump with a hand on his forearm and kneeing the hound in the face - hard enough to send him staggering back into one of his buddies, the both of them toppling like bowling pins.

As it wasn't exactly an even fight (with a pack of them vs me) I couldn't dodge two punches without catching a heavy right hook to the ribs, but the air that was knocked out of me made ducking the next punch easier because I felt like a dead weight anyway. Without having much time to breath, I threw out a roundhouse kick which was caught and I was tugged off my feet. Hanging upside down I kicked up at the Eraser's neck and he gagged, his air way collapsing. He dropped me, hands flying to his throat as he tried to catch his breath, and dropping me to the floor. I rolled over, several Erasers sinking their claws into my wings and pulling me to my feet, one of their buddies advancing and pulling back a fist.

Bracing myself for the pain I ripped my wings out of the Erasers grip, dodging the punch that flew for my middrift and kicking him in the snout. I jumped back, one of them swinging his heavy claws through the air where I'd just been, leaving himself open for a good kick. My foot connected with his shoulder and he fell back, one of his cronies stepping in before I could finish him off, and returning the favour by kicking me in the stomach - so hard I skidded back a good few feet across the floor.

I pushed myself up, blood pounding in my ears, the stitches in my arm unraveling and blood dripping slowly down my arm. Making the most of my adrenaline I charged back into the fight, watching as the Erasers split into two packs; four on the kids, three on Fang.

There was a tangible ripple in the air and I pinched my nose, running towards Fang as Gazzy's green gas went off like a bomb's shock wave. The effect it had on the Erasers was similar to how Ella described falling in love; slowly, then all at once. They hunched back into a fighting stance, looking for the source of the gas, but only managed to stumble around coughing before dropping like flies.

Each of them crumpled to the floor and I pulled one off of Fang, who was also out cold. With a quick glance to check the kids were unharmed I knelt down next to him, seeing what looked like a syringe sticking out his arm. I bent down to check he was breathing. It wasn't poison then...

"MAX!" yelled Wren, but too late. An arm locked around my neck tightly, dragging me away from Fang and to the centre of the room, the barrel of a gun pressing against one of my temples. I tried to pry the arm off, swinging my elbow back but hearing a sickening sound of bone on metal - cyborg metal. My arm throbbed as Dylan's voice echoed around the play room,

"Anyone moves - she's dead!"

The kids didn't move, all of them shaking with their t-shirts over their nose, trying to blocking out Gazzy's green cloud of knock out gas. My head started spinning from Dylan cutting off most of my oxygen, and I couldn't do much other then wiggle and listen to his whispers in my ear,

"Now…you're going to come with me quietly, or I'm going to disable one my arms and set a spark off - and I take out everyone you know and love with a little gas explosion..." I pulled at the arm around my neck but it was rock tight.

"Sure..." I rasped, "so I come with you or you'll blow up everything the school's worked for..." His grip tightened and my vision started getting black spots in it,

"Oh good, so my point is getting across. So I'll ask just one more time, we can either leave together, now, and everyone here stays alive..." Dylan started dragging me backwards towards the hole in the side of the ship, "or, I can activate my shields, keeping us intact while everything and everyone else around you, burns…the choice is yours." I set my jaw as Dylan pulled me over to see the sea, the way he'd drag me back to the school.

"What's it going to be Maximum,?" He asked, "come with us," Dylan pulled me back to see the kids all trembling, "or have us kill your little band of merry mutants?" I didn't move, the sound of the sea crashing against the boat below igniting a split second plan in my head.

Hoping that his electronics weren't all that waterproof I drew my wings forward a little then threw all my weight back into him. He didn't fall back as planned but did loosen his grip enough for me to twist out of his choak hold, and switching on super speed I ran and tackled him, catapulting us overboard, soaring out the hole in the side of the ship at 200mph.

I turned hyper drive off in time to throw my wings out so I wouldn't water, but Dylan's grip on my shoulders turned vice like, and we dropped like lead into the water.

His grip on me did not slaken, and though we rose with all the air in my bones and lungs, both of his hands fisted in my hair and kept me under as he resurfaced. I lashed out, my lungs already burning from breathing hard in the fight, and my chest started to feel like it was collapsing. I couldn't help it, I inhaled a lungful of salt water.

And then unthinkable happened. Houston, we had air.

Instead of water, oxygen seemed to fill my lungs. Before I could stop myself I'd taken another breathe, going from dizzy to lightheaded as I took another gulp. Blissful air filled my lungs, cleaner then what it was above water, and I stopped struggling. No…Angel couldn't be right? Could she? I almost laughed.

With a new surge of determination I reached for Dylan's legs, tugging his head under - surprising him so much with my zombie antics that he all but wailed in surprise. I dragged him deeper into the water, tucking my wings in as I grabbed him around the waist and prepared to go to hyper-drive, kicking out to swim upwards.

In seconds we shot above the surface, zooming up into the air so fast I heard the metal of Dylan's cyborg parts groaning. I stopped for a second, repositioning myself before flying in land (towards what I knew to be cliffs) as Dylan tried to grapple for a hold on me at 200mph. Timing it just right I switched off my speed, letting Dylan go and throwing my wings out to slow down as he flew headfirst, at 200mph, into the cliff face.

I grimaced, repositioning myself for landing, my heart swelling as I saw pieces of metal lying haphazardly around the bottom of the cliff line. I touched down beside Dylan's torso, noting he'd tried to have himself tactically decapitated, some parts taking more damage then others to keep himself just about functional. He'd managed to salvage most of the necessary parts, minus the avian and human limbs, leaving him mostly whole from the belly button up. His skin was peeling off grusomly, and I spotted a leg and arm lying shattered in rock pools, the motors still humming desperately like he was still trying to move. He was flailing around half a right arm and a third of his left wing, his feathers falling out like autumn leaves as the skin dislodged from its mental frame.

I picked up several chunky pieces of his knee-cap and threw one at his head triumphantly, saying in a sing-song voice,

"Stop hitting yourself!"

"Stop that!" He spat, his humane voice cracked with a more robotic tone. I held up one of the other pieces,

"Sure, tell me where your extra chip is."

"I'll never tell you any information concerning Itex-" I threw another piece of kneecap which bounced off his forehead, and his face crumpled into an irritated expression, "I feel no pain, this is futile." I frowned, chucking the last piece,

"Sure, but it's kind of satisfying for me." I shrugged, looking down at him, "nevermind, I'll just have one of my friends hack you." Dylan made a sound like he could not compute, and I took that as a good sign.

I walked over, picking up his remains by the head and stagger back a bit, expecting him to be heavier. I tossed him up and down, giddy with victory,

"Jeeze, you need a McDonalds, you're lighter then 'brain on a stick'..." Dylan snarled like I'd made a 'yo mumma' joke, his agressive look some what lost as he spun like a catherine wheel, repeatedly being tossed in the air,

"Brain on a stick was 2009's failure, I'm the first working human who's 98% machine!" I snorted, catching him and tucking him under my arm,

"Sure you are buddy, this right here, pinaccle of your success story..." I shook out my wings and ran a few steps before jumping, taking to the air and soaring back to the ship...

* * *

I landed back on deck cold and with a very angry cyborg muttering threats into my arm pit. Apparently, everyone was addressing the commotion downstairs, as when I landed, I had to strain my ears to pick up anything other then waves, lapping gently against the side of the boat.

I descended the steps, breaking into a run as I headed for the play room - the kids well-being floating to the fore-front of my mind again. When I got there, many of them were milling around outside, and I smiled as they gaped at me, a few of them shouting things like,

"Max!" and, "I knew you'd beat him!"

I grinned at them, focusing on Rob as he came skidding out into the hallway to investigate. I held up Dylan,

"Happy Birthday, I got you half a cyborg full of Itex information. He probably sent out a distress signal, hence the Erasers, so I recon we should move the boat." Rob raised his eyebrows, looking slightly overwhelmed but beckoning over one of the CSM team as Dylan muttered threats into my armpit.

Once the order was given Rob started leading me along the hallway, looking curiously at Dylan's torso which still had a little of its skin and hair intact.

"Er, Max...why is he in half?" I grinned, squeezing out my wet hair and shrugging,

"He got thrown into a cliff at high speed. But forget about that - Angel was right. I _can _breathe underwater." Rob raised his eyebrows at me and laughed a little,

"You'd think I'd stop being surprised by things like that by now...Wow..."

* * *

Rob led me to a small room occupied only by Nudge. She sat at a desk, fingers flying across a keyboard and looking between four monitors, all of which were displaying green boxes and lines of code. She was so absorbed she didn't even notice the door open, but as Rob called her name she looked up and smiled at us, her grin fading a little as she clapped her eyes on me.

"Is that a body?!" She asked, eyes wide with shock. I grinned,

"Nope, just half a cyborg - could you to hack him for me please?" Nudge stared at me as I set Dylan down, watching as he still offered ultimatums for me to go with him to Itex, and Rob began searching for a socket on his body to plug him into the computer. Nudge goggled at me,

"I swear, I found out Fang's a super spy yesterday, this morning I've hacking a computer system better protected then the pentagon, and now I'm going to hack a cyborg's brain!?" Nudge looked over at Rob, squeaking a little, "does this stuff usually happen on this ship?!" Rob didn't look up from examining Dylan, grunting in confirmation, and Nudge shook her head a little. She sighed, pouting a little as she looked down at Dylan's face,

"And he was so hot too…"

The cyborg himself, who looked very irritable about being felt up for his output socket, suddenly froze into a neutral expression as Rob plugged a wire into the back of his neck. Information sprang to life on one of the monitors, and Nudge turned to start sorting through it. It was only a minute before she hit the enter key, declaring,

"And I'm in!" She scrolled down a few pages of code, squinting a little, "He's got too much information to search through really - but I can reprogram him a little so he'll tell us whatever you want. Just give me a sec..." She turned back to the keyboard and began typing, 'over-ride' text boxes flashing up every few seconds. With a final stab she pressed the enter key, "Right, I've overridden his eligience protcol, you should be good!" I stared down at her, then at Rob,

"She's good..." Nudge blushed happily and I beamed at her before turning my attention to the torso on the floor. I felt myself starting to shiver, being out of adrenaline and still cool from my dip in the ocean then flight through cold air - but a hot shower would wait. I'd been searching too long for concrete infomation. This was my chance.

"Is there anyone on their way here now, from iTex?" I asked, watching as Dylan's eyes went white for a second (checking his internal files) before regaining their blue colour and answering,

"No."

"Since when did they know of our position?" His eyes when white again, sliding creepily back to normal as he intoned,

"An update was sent when experiment 28 and I began making our way towards this general location."

"She has a name," I snapped.

"Wren. The name assigned to subject 28 by other fellow experiments." I gritted my teeth, pushing my anger aside.

"How is Wren different now compared with a year ago?"

"Experiment 28 has been in iTex custody and undergone more treatment"

"How long was she at Itex?"

"From birth till its 12th year. 4 months and 3 days into this year there was an attempted escape. It was recaptured within 12 hours and remained at Itex ever since."

That date - that must've been when Iggy and I escaped. But it still didn't explain what Angel had said.

"What is the differenence in her physical/mental state between those two time periods?"

"Experiment 28 was reincarcerated and functioned as a subject for exploration of mutant mental capability - the insanity boundries of non-human subjects. Telepathic subjects were instructed to infiltrate, disturb, and create artifical blocks in its mind. An investigation into how physical stimuli impacted the mental quality of the subject (and the quality of the mental artifical blocks) was also carried out."

And that included them clipping her wings?! I dug my finger nails into my palm - I need more answers, I could punch him and every white coat on this earth later.

"How did Wren escape iTex and make it here?"

"Itex instructed me to search for the CSM base. I found it upon the appearance of experiment 1 and 2 being carried back to an oil rig. Further analysis confirmed it to be the CSM headquarters. Itex instructed me to use experiment 28 as bait (because of it's close relationship with subject 1) to infiltrate the base. The artifical blocks were used to press on pain centers of the subject's brain, enabling quick access. Once inside I was to spread the virus to subject 1 through prolonged touch, which would disable its chip and eliminate it as a threat."

I grimaced...shaking his hand in the kitchen...would that have been enough?

"Max…" Rob whispered, "aren't you subject one?"

"That is correct," intoned Dylan, "subject 1 is also known amongst other experiments (and scientists alike) as Maximum Ride."

"Why eliminate Max? Why not just take the whole base out?" Rob asked, Dylan's eyes went white and started rolling like a fruit machine, a few seconds passing before they finally flicked back to their normal blue,

"Subject 1 was created by a rouge employee - specifically for the purpose of destroying iTex. Therefore Subject 1 must be destroyed. The rest of the experiments on board the CSM headquarters were too precious to be disposed of - so the subject must be removed quickly and singularly. When the virus attempt was not sucessful I sensed suspicion in subject 2. I was instructed not to blow my cover unless absolutely necessary, and therefore contacted Itex to have them send in a team of lupine experiments. They would intimidate all subjects present and poison subject 2 in order to force subject 1 into submission."

"Who's subject 2?"

"Subject 2 is reffered to by civilians as Fang or Nick Walker."

"What was he poisoned with!?" I asked, thinking of the syringe as Dylan replyed in his uncomfortabley calm robotic voice,

"Avian DNA. Due to saving subject 1 from the virus he was without the correct software to survive the DNA injection. I was to falsely offer a chip in return for Subject 1's compliance." Nudge covered her mouth in horror, letting out a small sob as Dylan finished, "subject 2 will be dead within 23 hours..."

I turned tail and ran from the room, jumping down the stairs, rocketing to the infirmary. I was there in under a minute, shivering and still soaked, hearing yelling from behind one of the examination doors. I rushed over to it, banging on the door harshly,

"Fang it's Max! Let me in!" To my surprise the door opened sharply, Dr M throwing it back to let me in to see Fang face down on the examination bed, yelling as he gripped the edge of the bed with white knuckles. Dr M closed the door, looking frantic,

"I've given him as many painkillers as possible - any more and it'll kill him!" Dr M walked over to the examination bed, pointing to where Fang's shirt was rolled up to his shoulders. There were two inflamed, red nubs of flesh pointing out his back - exactly where my wing joints were. She stared at me, fearfully,

"Max is this-"

"They injected him with bird DNA. But he hasn't got his chip." I felt tears start to run down my cheeks, muttering, "He's going to die. Mum he's going to die." She began crying too,

"Honey, I'm so sorry." I shook my head,

"There's got to be something. Something we can do…" I nodded to myself, "Nudge...she has a chip, I'll go get-" but Dr M laid a hand on my shoulder, shaking her head,

"Max, Nudge needs to hack the institute's main frame, she needs her chip. If she doesn't, all the kids you've saved go straight back to Itex…we can't beat them without her..." I tried to pull away from her but she gripped me with all her human strength, "you should stay with him..." I knocked her hand away from me, backing away to the door,

"I'll find another way."

Looking quickly at Fang before I left my bottom lip began to tremble.

"Don't die…" I whispered, and before Dr M could stop me I ran from the room...

* * *

***Checks watch* My my, would you look at that! It's time to impart a useless, possibly quite ludicrous fact! And what does this chapter have to tell us?**

**Farts have been clocked at a speed of 10 feet per second (7 mph) - I mean, I'm sure Gazzy's travel a lot faster but next time that kid standing next to you lets one rip, just remember to exit the area at 8mph :3  
**

**Fly on,  
M  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ladies, Gentle-males, would you please give it up for the wonderful readers who made it into the list of;  
'People-Doing-Whiz-Bang-Things-After-Last-Chapter';**

**The Fabulous Favourites:**  
**montalvoeliza159**

**And the Awesome Alerters:  
****montalvoeliza159  
Sunshone**

**Thanks be to them, you oh so gracious people ^-^**

* * *

Chapter 10:  
The Mothership Saves the Day  
(Yet Again, Possibly)  


* * *

MAX POV

I fled the medical wing, heading for the upper deck, only able to come up with one nightmarish plan.

I couldn't extract the DNA out of Fang, it'd been his blood stream for hours and has started to combine with his human DNA.

If I couldn't extract it I needed an antidote. I needed a chip.

I couldn't get one from the kids, and Dr M was right, Nudge needed hers to put a stop to Itex for good. That left just one place.

The question was, could I fly to the school, find a chip, and not get caught trying to escape? Could I get back before it was too late? If there was a fight with all of Itex's Erasers, I didn't stand a chance; my arm needed to be restitched, I was still rough around the edges from my last escape, the fight with the Erasers in town, and my fight with Dylan (which included almost drowning just minutes ago). Even if I didn't have any injuries, the school was miles and miles away, and it was broad daylight - touching down at my highschool during morning break wouldn't go unnoticed by both the school and the media.

But if I didn't go Fang would die. And I owed him my life after he'd given me his chip.

_MAXIMUM YOU CANNOT GO BACK THERE._

I yelped in surprise, skidding to a halt and whirling around, trying to find the source of the voice echoing in my head. Yet again I saw no one. Shaking my head and hoping the voice would fall out like water in my ears, I ran on.

It's not real. I'm not crazy and it's not real. I need to get to the school now.

I felt the ship start to move, no doubt to change our position so Itex couldn't launch a second attack so easily. I raced down the corridors, finally coming to the steps that led above deck and climbing them two at a time. Still damp from my dip in the sea, the cold wind above deck hit me like ice, and I shivered as I shook out my wings, the voice shouting,

_MAX YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE SCHOOL! JEB HAS HIDDEN A CHIP CLOSE TO YOUR LOCATION!_

I stopped dead at this. Last time I'd seen Jeb he'd held Fang at gun point...now he was trying to save his life?

_JEB SAVED BOTH YOU AND FANG LAST TIME, HE HELPED YOU BOTH ESCAPE!_

"HOW WOULD HE KNOW WHERE TO PUT IT?!" I yelled desperately into thin air, panic and cold starting to numb my fingers and toes as I looked around for the absent speaker once again.

_I tracked you! Now get in the air! Fang hasn't got much time!_

At the reminder of Fang nearing death's door, I felt the last of my resolve melt and took off from a stand still. My wings worked furiously as I climbed higher and higher in the cold air, the voice urging me,

_Go West for 20 miles. There'll be a tree on the cliff edge. The chip is in a box, hidden beneath the roots._

I flew in an arc, redirecting myself away from the sun's glare and switching to hyperdrive, hoping against hope I was doing the right thing. As a green-grey blurr crossed my eyeline I slowed, dropping down to a normal bird-kid speed, using my raptor vision to zoom in and scan the cliff edge.

Miraculously, eerily, there was just one tree on the entire cliff, stood tall amoungst miles of shrubbery, its trunk storm beaten, its leaves swaying in the wind that rolled off the sea.

I dived, plummeting towards the shrub covered cliff top like a lead weight in water.

I was going too fast to land running and hit the ground hard, rolling over the dirt and landing in sharp bushes. Scrambling up I forced my way into and through waist high bracken, wincing as the branches scratched sharp shallow cuts into my bare legs. When I reached the tree, I had to push the scrubby brances aside to find the roots, bending down as best I could, just able to spot something glinting from a hole beneath the roots. Shoving my hand inside, I found cold metal at my finger tips - box-like and small. With a bit of wriggling, I managed to wrench it free of the earth, and turning it over in my hands I found a piece of paper clumsily taped to the lid.

I barely noticed the '_SAVE THE WORLD MAX_' scrawled across the paper in familiar handwriting, focusing instead on flicking the catch of the box open. I flipped the lid open and it swung back on squeaky hinges, reveealing a small green and grey square inside. I hadn't gotten a good look at the chip Dr M had taken out of my arm, but the box's contents looked like some kind of chip, and it sent a warm ripple of relief over my goose-pimpled skin.

With a surge of determination I shut the box, locking the catch into place before pushing past the tree and jumping off the cliff. I'd shifted into hyperdrive almost before I'd started falling, slowing as the blurry mass of the boat came into sight, and diving for the deck. I managed to land in a sprint, pelting torwards the door I'd left open and jumping down the flight of steps inside.

I ran for the infirmary, feet slapping with every step against the cold ship floor. Sprinting through the medical wing, to the door of Fang's room, I was too happy to realise that there was no noise from inside.

I burst into the room, slipping as I ran inside and tumbling backwards, landing painfully on my elbows as I held the box out of harms way. I scrambled up, trying to ignore the realisation that I'd slipped in a puddle of blood, my eyes darting to Dr M who was sat in the corner of the room. Her tear streaked cheeks were still wet as she shook her head at me slowly.

I looked over at Fang. He was lying face down on the examintion bed, not moving. Now shirtless, the inflamed nubs I'd seen were now great mounds of red flesh, poking out his back haphazardly. His half-formed wings.

"No-" I muttered, shaking the box at Dr M, the chip rattling inside, "-I...I found a chip- he's going to be okay!" Dr M stood up hopelessly, her voice tearful,

"Max he's lost too much blood, his heart-"

"Give him my blood! Implant this chip and give him my blood! We can restart his heart with adrenaline - the white coats did it with me! It'll work!" I strode over, shoving the metal box into Dr M's hands, sliding a little on the blood splattered floor as I ran to the medicene cabinet.

I pulled the glass doors wide, shoving my hand through the stacks of pill bottles and feeling around frantically, grasping some emergency adrenaline syringes. I pulled out a handful, throwing them onto a table of surgical tools which I pushed towards Fang's bed. Standing over Fang, I took a tourniquet from the table and tied it around my arm, havin to stab the venflon needle in several times before I drew blood - whether I'd stuck it in a vein or artery I didn't care right now. As long as there was blood. That was what Fang needed.

"Max, this won't work," Dr M pleaded, "I'm not going to give you false hope…" I clicked the plastic transfusion tube into my venflon and watched blood shoot up it, turning Fang's arm over to find the venflon that Dr M would've put in to give him pain meds. I plugged the plastic tube in hurriedly, clenching and unclenching my fist to get my blood flowing properly. Dr M's voice broke slightly,

"Max please, don't do this..." A sudden wave of anger burst in my chest.

"I'm going to fix him!" I yelled, snatching up the sissors from the table of instruments and turning Fang's forearm over. I cut the stithces sewing up the place where his chip used to be, Dr M trying to pull me away as I put the sissors back on the table. I grabbed the box from her, throwing it down on the tool table before pushing her away.

"Max, he deserves respect in death…"

"Fang deserves to live…" I snapped, wiping the back of my hand across my eyes to clear my vision, and picking up the scalpel and forceps, "he's going to live..."

I'd seen the white coats cut into people plenty of times - hell, I'd been dissected enough to know what I was doing. I cut into the old wound, carefulling peeling back the muscle with the foreceps, my raptor vision working like a microscope and picking out the almost invisible indentation where his chip had been. Putting the scalpel down I used my free hand to flip the catch and lid of the box.

Shaking slightly I picked up the tweezers, using them to remove the chip from the box and bringing it over to Fang's arm. The chip began shifting between the tweasers, like a magnet being held away from its opposite pole. Using the foreceps I pushed wound wider, barely dipping the edge of the chip under his skin when it pulled itself from between the tweasers, slipping into place perfectly.

"It's in…" I muttered, easing the wound closed, not quite believing what I was seeing. Dr M staring at me hopeplessly,

"Max, he's been dead for five minutes..." A flicker of hope ignited my anger as she stepped forwards, trying to pull me away again. I glared at her,

"If you're not going to help me, then get out."

"Max, you know that no blood to the brain means-"

"OUT!" I practically screamed at her, letting her flee the room as I lifted Fang's torso off the bed.

Pulling him around quickly and carefully, I tucked the sickening flaps of meat that were meant to be wings beneath him, lying him down on his back. Not wanting to disconnect the tube giving him my blood, I reached out a foot to pulled the defibrillator equipment over, turning it on and squeezing gel onto the metal paddles. Switching it on, I placed them on Fang's chest and pulled the trigger.

Fang's body jolted upwards with the force of the electric shock, flopping back on the bed, lifeless and with a sickening squelch of flesh from his half-formed wings. I ditched one of the paddles and grabbed a syringe, stabbing the needle directly into his heat and injecting the adrenaline. Yanking the needle out I tossed it over my shoulder, picking up the paddle again and replacing it on his chest.

Again his body was thrown into the air lifelessly, landing back on the bed with a limp thump. I shocked him again.

"Come on Fang..." I muttered - everything had worked so well, too well, he had to wake up. I chucked the paddles back on the trolley, grabbing the last two syringes of adrenaline and jabbed them (one after the other) into his heart. Once empty I flung them to the floor, picking up the paddles again, my hands starting to shake.

But his body rose from the bed, each shock as lifeless as the last. And my heart fell in on itself.

I dropped the defibrillator paddles, looking at his pale face, seeing my blood still flowing through the tube as I stood over him.

I felt the last of my resolve dissolve in the tears that dripped down my cheeks, and I lent forwards, pressing my foreahead into his stomach. His skin was still warm.

"You stupid, stupid human...you promised me it'd be fine…" I was starting to feel a little faint from hunger and blood loss, and the combination gave me the impression that Fang's stomach began to rise and fall against my forehead.

I laid my hand on his chest and on feeling it rise and fall, I pulled my head up. It was moving up and down, like he was gasping for air. I dropped my head over his heart, my raptor hearing picking up the frail beat beneath his sternum. Unable to leave Fang's side while still giving him blood, I screamed at the top of my voice for Dr M,

"MUM!"

The door opened suddenly. Wide eyed, Angel hurried inside, staring from the blood spattered floor to my tear-streaked face.

"Get Dr M, quickly! Fang's alive-" Angel ran out the door, her footsteps vanishing from my range of hearing as I looked down at Fang, whispering,

"Hang in there…"

* * *

The longest minute I'd ever experienced passed before I heard the sound of footsteps again. I felt tears falling as Dr M opened the door, and my voice was croaky as I stated,

"He's breathing."

Dr M looked from me to Fang, and on seeing his ragged breathing her mouth dropped. She snapped her jaw shut, striding across to his bed and clipping something onto the end of his finger. The screen at the head of the bed beeped to life, Fang's heart beat bleeping faintly in a green line, still too weak to maintain a smooth bird-kid beat.

"How much adrenaline did you give him?" Dr M asked, rushing over to the medicine cabinet. Seeing her back in action, I felt a sense or relief spread like warm water through my veins, and though a little lightheaded I answered quickly,

"Three syringes."

My vision started seesawing.

"Mum" I said deliriously, "I think Iggy's going to need to take over…"

I heard Dr M look around at me, but my vision went black before I saw her face.

I was out cold before I hit the floor...

* * *

My head was pounding painfully.

I tried lifting my hand to my temple but my body felt four times heavier than usual.

Instinct made me wrench open my eyes. The light burned as I squinted around, but I blinked away the brighteness. I felt sick as I lifted my head up to look around, but I fell back against my pillows gratefully as I caught sight of the line of beds opposite. Light from the thick window of the infirmary was falling in patterns across the colourful sheets, purposefully not white so as to put kids fresh out of Itex at ease.

I felt beyond exhausted, a pretty serious condition considering how many times the school have pushed me to my limit.

My head gave a parituclarly painful throb and I screwed up my eyes, raising a hand to rub my temple as the bed dipped. I opened my eyes,

"Iggy?" I heard a sigh, then a dissapointed tone,

"You're a bit of an idiot, you know that?" I squinted at him, forcing myself up onto my elbows and noticing in the process there was a needle stuck in my arm. "Dr M had to put an IV in after you passed out," he explained, "she said you were so stressed when giving blood to Fang, high blood pressure gave away too much of your blood. We had to get Gazzy up here to give you a transfusion…" I lowering myself back down as my head span sickeningly,

"Fan. Is he-"

"Fang's fine, no thanks to you." I sighed, closing my eyes and trying to steady myself, my vision slightly clearer now. I could just make out Iggy smiling at me, "you did great Max." I would've rolled my eyes if I wasn't feeling nauseous,

"Well I wasn't going to let him die." I got the impression Iggy was scowling at me,

"Yeah, but you did almost finished yourself off in the process..." I tried to frown but it only made my head throb,

"Can I see him?"

"He's asleep now. Dr M's staying with him to make sure he doesn't check out again, but he seems pretty stable. Whatever was in that chip finished growing his wings. He's got feathers and everything now." I nodded, but with a huge effort raised myself onto my elbows,

"I want to check." Iggy pushed me back down with embarrassing ease,

"You're not going anywhere. You're going to refuel and sleep. When you prove to me you can walk straight, then I'll let you see him." I rolled my eyes at him, sitting up again and just about repressing the urge to vomit,

"I'm fine." Iggy pushed me down again,

"No. You're not. And you're going to lie here and heal up, until Dr M and I say so." I snorted at him,

"You can't make me stay here." Iggy raised his eyebrows,

"Maximum Ride, I am insulted. You don't think you raised me well enough to know when someone needs taking care of?" Despite the head ache I scowled at him,

"I don't need to be taken care of! Now move!" Iggy put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from sitting up again,

"I will strap you to this bed if I need to, Ride."

I laughed. Of course I did, the thought of Iggy managing to hold me down was laughable. That was until he actually followed through on his word, yelling for Dr M to get the velcro.

Oh I'm _so_ gonna kill him when I'm up and about again...

* * *

After twelve hours of death threats, boredom and worry, Ig and Dr M finally let me up.

When I walked into Fang's room I saw him lying face down on the bed. The blood on the floor was gone, the heart monitor was showing a pure blooded avian-american heartbeat, and the wings that were bloodied muscle when I'd last seen them were now covered in long black feathers.

Fang on the other hand looked zombie-like; deathly pale, dark circles curling under his eyes, and a wide smile that told me he was high on pain relief. Fang beamed at me as I sat down in the chair beside his bed.

"...Nice to have you back," I said quietly, "how you feeling?" Fang grinned,

"I feel just great...Dr M gave me thing that makes you feel all nice…" I smirked at his dreamy expression,

"I don't think I've seen you this smiley since we met..." Fang frowned, slurring his words a little,

"Yeah...you were a lot weirder when I met..." he reached out a hand and patted my knee, drunkenly, "I can remember not knowing what to say..." his finger started tracing circles on my knee, "I mean how do you talk to girls?"

"You have a sister," I said flately. Fang blew a raspberry,

"Fine...maybe I'm not great at making friends...but I made friends with yout right?...maybe Ari was told to make sure I didn't have any friends, so I'd focus more on helping the Institute..." Fang gazed off in thought for a moment, his concentration returning as he looked at me sincerly, "...but we definitely made a connection...didn't we...? I think we did…" I tried not to laugh as Fang gave me a very uncharacteristic sappy expression, reeling off a small speech,

"I'm sorry about lying to you back then…it was really really difficult. See, Jeb told me Itex had been really mean to you, and that you'd been through some stuff...and I just wanted to help you, like really help. Like, this much..." He tried to lift up his arms to show me 'how much' but I gently forced him to lower them so he didn't hurt himself. Fang gave me a look like a puppy that knew it'd done something wrong, and was now trying to look cute to make up for it,

"You looked really hurt, like inside kind of hurt, and I picked that friggen song to play that made you cry. And I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was working for Itex but I really, really didn't know. Jeb told me they wanted to help you…and I just wanted to help you. I want to help everybody on this ship. But especially you. Cause I like you. I like you a lot…" I felt my cheeks heat up slightly,

"I like you too."

"That's good." He said, nodding to himself a little then grinning at me, "you're good. I feel good…" His eyes went wide, and his grip on my leg suddenly tightened as he yelled,

"MAX! DYLAN'S STILL OUT THERE!" I patted his hand awkwardly,

"I dealt with Dylan."

"Aw, you did!?" His grin spead across his face again and he grabbed my hand in his own, "Oh you're awesome...I feel...just...awesome." Fang started running his thumb over the back of my hand, his eyes lighting up like a child, "We're awesome together...just you and me, us against the world!" Fang looked past me, eyes unfocused, and I would've started laughing if there weren't butterflies bouncing around my stomach.

He started babbling random thoughts, anything from bumble bees to his favourite super heros, and I just sat there frozen - hardly listening as Fang held my hand...

* * *

Dr M came in after a while, telling me that Fang needed some sleep, and I followed her out the door - our latest bird kid jovially waving goodbye. I tried to immortalise the feeling of Fang's hand in mine in my memory as we walked along the corridors, heading for dinner in the canteen. After a while in silence Dr M cleared her throat, and I looked up to see her twisting her hands nervously,

"I'm sorry about giving up on Fang." I grimaced at her guiltily,

"I'm sorry for shouting at you...and for calling you Mum" Dr M shook her head,

"I'm honoured Max, but I'm hardly worth of that title" Dr M's brow furrowed, "if you'd accepted my verdict on Fang, he wouldn't be breathing right now...but you have to understand, from a medical point of view, there's no way he could've been brought back. Those chips must be far more powerful then we'd thought." I nodded,

"They are. When I was putting the new one in Fang, when I had it close enough to the wound the chip pulled out of the tweasers like some kind of magnet." Dr M raised her eyebrows,

"When I put Fang's chip in your arm the same thing happened - but I couldn't believe it. So I had Nudge take a look at the chip I pulled out your arm, because I was thinking about how much they control in your bodies. We know they control your heart beats, and that means they must be connected to the nervous system and brain, but doesn't that mean they could tell your bodies to do anything? That chip is the reason you heal faster then humans, so maybe when Fang almost got beaten to death in town it activated some kind of emergency regeneration sequence - it would explain why he was fully healed once he got to the school. It doesn't seem possible, but then again I didn't think Fang coming back to life was possible either." I frowned,

"Maybe that's what happened when we escaped...I fainted in mid-air and we would've fallen to our deaths, but he said my wings started to stretch out and slowed us down enough that we both survived the fall. But I was definately out cold." I stopped walking, a strange thought crossing my mind, "wait, if Dylan hacked into my chip, and if they're connected to our brains...Angel said Wren had mind blocks up that she didn't put there...does that mean Itex could hack into our chips, our brains, and in control us?" Dr M looked as horrified as I felt,

"To pull something like that off they'd need massive amounts of tech, a master computer that's been connected since the chip's activation-"

"But if they did have some kind of mothership computer at the school..." I said, slightly horrified at the thought, "then they could have an army of mutants on their hands in seconds with the right code on a keyboard..." Dr M started twisting her hands nervously again,

"If that's the case, Nudge needs to get into the school's network as soon as possible. If they can control you, they need to be stopped as soon as possible..." I nodded, pausing for a second as I thought of Wren's vacant expressions,

"I don't think they can completely control us yet, though. If they could, they would've had Wren acting natural instead of scared whenever Dylan was around. Maybe they can manipulate thought barriers and bring up memories, or talk to them-" my stomach dropped, "wait my voice..."

"Your voice?" Dr M asked.

"I...well..." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, "...okay don't freak out...before we were attacked this voice in my head told me that Wren was in danger. Seconds later, I hear the explosion in the playroom. Then when I left to go save Fang, I started thinking about how to get another chip and realised the only place to go was the school. But this voice told me not to go, and it told me where a spare chip was. And I didn't have much time so I went where it said, and the chip was hidden in a box. Ontop of it was a piece of paper saying 'save the world max' and I _know _it's Jeb's handwriting...maybe he logged onto this super computer and got those mental messages to me? I mean it didn't sound like a person exactly..." Dr M breathed in hesitantly,

"Did this voice say who they were?" I shook my head,

"But it was Jeb's handwriting on the box - he taught me how to write, I'd know that writing anywhere." Dr M looked doubtful but seemed to cave,

"Okay, let's say that Jeb did leave the note. Why didn't he just meet you with the chip? Why hide?" I opened my mouth to reply, but my jaw hung open. Improvising a solution, I spoke a little slowly, wondering out loud,

"…maybe he couldn't," I looked up at her, determined, "I mean, they still have Ari right? And he may be an Eraser but he's still his son. Maybe he had to ditch it and get back to school before anyone noticed? If not for Ari then other kids he's looking after. He brought me up in that hell hole, afterall..." Dr M looked at me skeptically,

"Okay, but still, _if_ this is a computer and you can't tell who's speaking, be careful next time it tells you to do something. You can't know if it's Jeb on the other side." I smirked a little,

"Are you trying to give me the internet safety talk?" Dr M didn't look impressed and I resumed a more serious expression, "okay I'll be careful..."

Seemingly more satisfied she sighed and tried to smile, gesturing for us to keep walking. Bringing me out of rather morbid thoughts I felt my stomach drop as Dr M changed the subject,

"So...you and Fang, huh?" I felt my cheeks flush but tried to shrug it off,

"What about me and Fang?" Dr M smirked,

"I was young once...I know you know what I mean..."

I didn't reply, but Dr M seemed content to leave me embaressed as we walked the rest of the way in silence...

* * *

I ate almost as much as I had done when I was fresh out of Itex that night. Apparently fighting, almost drowning, going on a scavenger hunt in hyper drive, donating too much blood (on top of having a crazy mutant calorie quota) really worked up an apetite.

Taking some cookies with me I left for the dorms, heading for the three bedroom Iggy, Ella and I shared.

Even if it was for my own good, I made Iggy regret velcroing me to the hospital bed earlier by spending the night teasing him and Ella. The two of them couldn't hit me, considering I'd been bedbound just hours earlier, and Ella ended up leaving after half an hour to go and sleep with Nudge - apparently unable to take anymore. Of course once she'd left Iggy started throwing comments at me about Fang, meaning Mr tall, dark, and stupid (and his handholding) clouded my thoughts for hours before sleep finally came.

As always I woke up with the sun, but when Iggy got dressed and left to see Ella I didn't follow him, taking advantage of the fact that Fang would be more tired then I was and dozing for a couple extra hours. Dr M ended up bringing me breakfast in bed, and hell I should loose too much blood more often because she also brought in half a batch of still-warm cookies.

"Special occasion?" I asked, sitting up as she put everything on the night stand,

"If you call taking down a cyborg, saving the kids from Erasers and an Itex invasion, then saving Fang's life, then yeah - it's a special occasion." I grinned, grabbing one of the cookies and thanking her through a mouthful of crumbs. She smiled, saying just before she left the room,

"Take Fang some food will you?" I looked over at the tray and saw two plates.

Really? Even Dr M was trying to set me up? Can't a girl save the world in peace?!...

* * *

I opened the door to Fang's room quietly.

Sunlight was streaming through the tiny gaps in the blinds, and as I closed the door the click of the latch seemed to wake him up. He groaned, shifting around a little, and I sat down in the chair from yesterday, smiling as Fang squinted at me,

"Max?"

"The one and only," I said, holding out the food tray to him. Having gotten a lot of sleep Fang now looked hungover instead of dead, and he seemed to perk up a little as he laid eyes on the food. Colour had returned to his face over night, as had his blank expression, which barely changed as he heaved himself up, grunting in pain as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He took the tray from me gingerly, wincing a little. I snorted,

"Oh come on, dying doesn't hurt that much." He rolled his eyes,

"No, but having a load of new bone and muscle sprout out your back does." He frowned down at his breakfast, shifting around a little, "it feels really weird." I grinned,

"Well, you are only human - you just gotta get used to it." Just about managing to speak through the mouthful of toast he asked,

"What happened? I couldn't really concentrate on what Dr M told me after she gave me that valium." I smiled, feeling my ears heat up at remembering him holding my hand, and saying hurridly,

"Well, Dylan's no longer a threat." He stopped eating, eyes locked on me for some kind of explaination, and I smirked proudly,

"He's in pieces upstairs. Turns out he was pretty much all robot." Fang's eyebrows disappered into his fringe and I shrugged, leaning back in my chair, "he was asking for it...anyway...the Erasers gave you a shot of home-made bird DNA and you started turning into a mutant. Or at least tried. Humans can't cope with our level of bodily functions - like you saw when my chip started getting faulty. But now you've got the chip, you should be fine." Fang frowned at me,

"So where'd the chip come from?" I grimaced,

"Er…remember I told you about hearing that voice before Itex attacked?" He nodded, "...well, it told me where a chip was - in a box, with Jeb's handwriting on it, hidden under a random tree a few miles away..." Fang stared, taking a deep breath to say something but wincing as his wings moved with his ribs.

"Are they painful?" I asked quietly, looking at the mass of raven coloured feathers. Fang turned around like he was chasing his tail, going a little red in the face at seeing my smirk, "you know you can move them right?" He scowled, not making any attempt to do so,

"They're kinda sore - like I've pulled every single muscle." I smiled at him sadly,

"Well you did just grow them yesterday." Fang shrugged, wincing as he did so and asking slowly,

"So what do I...what do I do with them?" I shrugged,

"Well, it's more comfortable to just have them kind of loose, but when I get wing strain it helps if I have a bath. You up for walking yet?" Fang rolled his eyes and I grinned at him goadingly, "oh come on, you do it for me, can't you? I mean you like me...like a lot!" Fang scowled at me and I smiled cockily,

"What, your words not mine..." He looked away grumpily, trying to slide off the bed. I stood up, ready to help and grinning,

"To be honest, last night is the only time I've ever been able to tell that you and Nudge are related - my god you are a motor mouth."

"I was drugged." Fang said, defensively.

"You were hilarious," I countered, stepping forwards in case I had to catch him as he stood up slowly. Fortunately Fang's legs seemed to be used to carrying his weight again (even if he had gained a few pounds) and he stood up without much trouble, eyes narrowing a fraction as he shifted his weight between his feet.

"Thanks, by the way." He said, a shadow of a smile crossing his face, "for, you know…bringing me back. Sorry I caused so much trouble." Reminding myself he was injured I resisted the urge to punch him for apolagising for something so stupid. Still, my cheeks flushed a little as I recalled last night's thoughts of holding his hand, and I scowled at him,

"...I've been thinking about what you said, about depending on other people." Fang half raised an eyebrow, clearly a little lost, and I shrugged, "well, y'know, I was thinking that you don't need to apologise for relying on me, if I'm relying on you." Fang raised his eyebrows,

"Your relying on me?" I rolled my eyes,

"No I was relying on the human Fang, but since that one went and died I guess mutant Fang'll do." The corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

I'm going to take that as a good sign...

* * *

**Welcome to your chapterly dose of useless facts, tit-bits of pointless knowledge to make this chapter worth your while and/or to annoy your nearest and dearest with!  
**

**China's Longquan Buddist Temple has a robot monk that will answers questions about the meaning of life. His name is ****Worthy Stupid Robot Monk and he has an iPad in his chest like teletubby.  
The more you know :D  
**

**Fly on,  
M**


	11. Chapter 11

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* * *

Chapter 11:  
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?!  
(Goddamit Julia)  


* * *

Max POV

Though Fang got to call shotgun on the bathroom (thanks to having died less than 24 hours ago) I still wished I could take a bath myself. Sure I was healing pretty well, but I'd been fighting for my life more than usual recently, and it was starting to bring back that old ache in my bones, the one I used to get while growing up at the school.

Fang carefully rolled his shoulders as we walked to the washrooms, ruffling his wings with his brow furrowed.

It must be difficult for him, processing all this. I'd always lived in this hellish underworld, but up until a month ago Fang was just a fake spy-kid. One that barely knew anything about Itex. Now, in the space of a month, he'd been gassed, half beaten to death, died, and lost 2% of his humanity.

I realised I was staring at him when he looked down at me quizzically,

"What're you thinking about?" I looked away, avoiding his gaze,

"I figure it must be hard for you, adjusting to this kind of life..."

Feeling guilty for being the one who dragged him into this world I didn't look him in the eye, but from his tone of voice I felt he must be gazing at me sadly,

"Max, I've been fighting Itex these last few days, you've been fighting them since before you could walk...pretty sure I'm not the one who's had it hard." I frowned,

"Yeah, but I've never known anything else. You're- I mean you were human. The biggest danger in your life was being hit by a bus. Now you're going to be hunted by every weapon Itex can cook up - you'll be on the run for the rest of your life." Fang grimaced, hopefully,

"Not if we bring down Itex." I snorted at him, stopping as we drew near to the boys bathroom. I nodded my head at the door,

"That's a lot easier said then done..."

Fang's brow furrowed ever so slightly but he didn't press my pessimism as he walked over to the door.

I lent against the wall, watching him go until the door clicked shut, and letting out a tired sigh. Pushing my back up against the wall, I slid down into a a sitting position, my arms wrapping around my knees and my head falling forwards onto my chest...

* * *

After about half an hour Fang opened the door, dressed only in his trousers, his hair still damp and his wings dripping wet. He glanced awkwardly behind him at the massive mass of black feathers, then looked down at me cluelessly,

"...How do you dry these things?" I got to my feet with a small smirk, gesturing for him to go back into the bathroom.

To get the worst of the water off I would've asked Fang to shake them out, but every movement brought a grimace to his face, so I resorted to patting them dry with his towel. I started at his back, one hand on his shoulder to keep him steady as I dabbed at the still bloody wing joints, rambling about which way his feathers should be going, and how to not matt the fluffier ones. After a minute of silence, Fang took it upon himself to actually start a conversation.

"Y'know," he said quietly, "if we were back at high school, this close contact would fit our relationship cover..." I felt my face heat up and gave a shaky laugh,

"Yeahhh, the oldest mutant alive cleaning the wounds of a newbie - still a better love story then twilight..."

Trying to avoid any mushy thoughts and feelings I let slip a small grin,

"Y'know Iggy thought our fake relationship was hilarious. Remember when he kept appearing all over the place, just so we'd keep up the sharade? I mean you didn't know about him being a bird kid, or about why I was checking up on Ella, so everyone just had to go along with it. The only person we were really fooling was Nudge..." Fang breathed in sharply as I pressed too hard and I pulled back, "...sorry..."

"S'kay," he said, sounding a little winded, "actually I haven't told Nudge that it was just a cover, have you?"

"No...I'm sure Ella has though..."

Fang fell silent while I finished drying the backs of his wings, and in the silence I moved to stand in front of him, folding one of his wings closer to his chest so I could reach.

I felt his eyes on me while I worked, and almost jumped in suprise as he spoke again,

"I don't know about you, but dying definately made me consider a few of my life choices." I raised my eyebrows, noticing that he was staring at the ground almost nervously, "I've never had many friends, never seen the world, never dated anyone..." I smirked,

"Yeah, that's the real problem with Itex...they keep me so busy with fighting, fleeing, and hiding that I never have time to go on a few dates..." I looked up at Fang, my stomach lurching as I found him looking so sincerly down at me,

"What'll you do after Itex is finished?" Trying to ignore a few run away thoughts in my head I raised my hands sarcastically, holding them out like he'd done when high on pain meds,

"What, do you like me _that _much?" Fang didn't say anything, just kept looking at me, and I might've done something really stupid if Iggy hadn't burst in the door looking so alarmed.

"Max!" He looked almost scared, "you need to get down to the loading bay, Jeb's here-" I dropped the towel, stiffening as Iggy finished "and he's with a load of Erasers..."

Iggy vanished from the doorway and I ran after him, leaving Fang as we both sprinted down the corridor.

"Is he alright?" I asked, jumping down an entire flight of steps, "are the Erasers using him as bait or something?"

"He's fine," Iggy said shortly, "the Erasers aren't attacking anyone - Jeb's their ring leader..."

"WHAT?" I yelled, Iggy glancing over his shoulder at me,

"It's not what you think - just listen to what he has to say."

What he has to say? Did that mean he was holding someone hostage and came to bargin?

Iggy didn't offer any other explination as we raced down the corridor, jumping down two more flights of steps, and through the open door of the playroom.

The room was silent except for the wind blowing through the massive hole where Dylan's Erasers had busted their way through the wall. Closest to us was Dr M, Rob, Gazzy and Nudge, all standing behind Angel. She stood at the head of the group, Celeste dragging on the floor and from the looks of fear on the Eraser's faces she was giving off the impression of a possessed child - that's my girl.

In front of the hole in the wall stood Jeb in his white coat, a gaggle of 12 or so overly attractive muscular men crowded behind him, someone or something bent down in the middle of them.

I ran around Dr M and Rob, skidding as I stopped just infront of Angel, throwing my wings out to sheild everyone from any guns the Erasers might pull. Angel took my hand, her face worryingly unreadable. She wasn't scared, but she didn't seem comfortable, so whatever she was getting from their heads wasn't all that helpful. I squared my shoulders as Jeb spoke, his voice watery as he smiled at me,

"Hello sweetheart." I didn't smile back, I didn't know if I should when he was surrounded by that pack of hell-hounds.

"What's with the dogs?" I asked coldly, Jeb giving me a wilted kind of look,

"They're carrying my wife." I stared at him,

"Your what?" Jeb clasped his hands in front of him like he was praying,

"Max, we need your help." I stared at him, then at all the Erasers. They almost looked afraid. They should be. Jeb smiled at me,

"Believe it or not, the Erasers are on our side now." I narrowed my eyes,

"Whose 'our side'?"

"The side trying to fight Itex - you, me, and I suppose now the CSM." I goggled at him. He expected me to believe that the Erasers were now just cuddly fluff balls after 16 years of them terrorising, my flock, and every kid I rescued?!

"And why the hell would they all be trying to take down Itex?!" I glared at Jeb, "I'm pretty sure at least a few of them have tried to rip our my throat."

"We've been retired," said a familiar voice. The Erasers parted and I saw Ari knelt on the ground. There was a woman in his arms, dressed in a hospital gown, hair trailing on the floor, and she was smiling in her sleep. She had the same button nose as the Ari I used to know.

And though Ari was bigger now, for the first time since I'd seen him outside the school he actually looked childish - out of place in his massive body. Scared, and trying not to stick out his bottom lip like he used to, I could almost see that blue eyed boy I protected at the school.

"They're were going to kill us off," Ari said, "they were trying to finish off the Erasers, so no one could stop them from killing half the people on the planet. We came here cause Dad says you're the only one who can stop it." I stared at Jeb.

The man bowed his head, stepping forwards a little apolagetically,

"You were the one to start it all Max, you were meant to stop them...I made you in that lab all those years ago to save the world. I knew it from the moment I created Itex with Hagen, knew it had to be destroyed, knew I had to be the one to fix it. The first of all our mutants would make sure to destroy him." I dropped Angel's hand, by voice growing hoarse as a cold kind of rage began seeping through my bones,

"You...you made me to clean up your mess? As a weapon?...You- all that time you were helping me...but you were the one who put me in cage at the start?" Jeb opened his mouth to speak in his defence but I yelled over him, "YOU'RE THE REASON EVERY GODDAM KID IN HERE EXISTS?! YOU MADE THEM GO THROUGH ALL THAT HELL?!" Jeb opened his mouth but no words came out, and he stood there looking guilty.

I took three strides towards him and sucker punched him in the face.

There was the unmistakable crack of cartiledge as his nose broke and he collapsed with a cry of pain. My vision tunneled as I knelt down beside him, yanking him up by the lapels of his lab coat, wings arching over him as Ari gently put the women down and started over to me. Jeb seemed to expect this because he threw out a hand towards his son, yelling,

"STAY OUT OF THIS ARI!" He gripped both of my hands, shaking a little, his voice dulled by his blood blocked nose, "Max, you have to listen, I didn't mean for you to be in such pain. Please, I can't...just let me explain." I lifted him with me as I stood, holding him inches from my face, shaking him as I spoke

"Why the hell did you help me fight against the school if you intended to put me there in the first place?!" He didn't say anything and I could almost feel my blood boiling, "you psychotic, sadistic-" I pulled back my fist again but Iggy latched tightly onto my arm,

"Max, stop! Just let him explain!" I glared at Iggy,

"How can you say that, after all he put us through!?"

"Max he was the one who got us out of there!"

"He wouldn't have had to if he didn't put us there in the first place!" Iggy looked at me like I was a bank robber holding a gun to his head,

"Max you know you can beat the crap of him whenever. If you don't like what he as to say then fine...but just, let him try and explain." I felt a well of anger rise in me again but Iggy laid a hand on my other arm too, "just give him a chance..." I exhaled shakily, dropping Jeb and stepping back icily. Iggy helped him to his feet and though I kept my hands at my sides I still balled them into fists, spitting,

"You have one minute before I drag and drop you a mile above the sea. Start talking." Iggy scowled at me but I ignored him, staring at Jeb as he looked up at me dolefully, his voice nasally as his nose continued to drop blood,

"Your white coat, Hagen, he's not a doctor - he gave himself that title. He was a senator, trying to create artificial intelligence for the government to use in war. He contacted technology experts all over the world, including Julia, my wife. He told her…told her he had access to funds that would save Ari's life if she helped him, he just needed her to program an artificial intelligence into his database. Ari would've died if Julia hadn't created the super computer. Once it was done, Hagen implanted a small computer chip, connected to the computer, into Ari's arm. And he got better...but we didn't know- didn't have any idea that Hagen gave him a shot of Lupine DNA. Ari became the first Eraser. But Hagen he- he didn't stop. And he said we had to help him or he'd deactivate Ari's chip. And Ari would die. Julia tried to hack the super computer, but Dr Hagen found out. He put her in a coma, locked her up and ordered me to keep working. And I wasn't thinking. Hagen took Ari away from me and I- I could only protect him from the inside. So I printed one of the chips...and I made you. I thought you could protect each other...I just wanted someone to protect him Max, I'm so-…I tried to help, I did- but I watched you being thrown around like a rag doll and…I- I realised too late I'd just locked two of my children in hell…"

I whipped around at the sound of footsteps, and glancing towards the door I saw Fang gingerly walking towards us, wings slightly spread, flinching as he tried to move too fast.

I turned back to Jeb to see him watching Fang, taking in the black masses of feathers spreading from his shoulders and looking appalled. While Fang made his way towards us, painfully slowly, Ari spoke up, looking at his feet as he gruff voice said nervously,

"Max, Hagen gave the order to execute all the Erasers - he found a robotic replacement for us. I brought what was left of us with me but...I'm sorry for what I did you to, to Fang, he used my chip to manipulate my memories and made me think everything was your fault. But we've got no where else to go and Hagen is going to destroy half the world. We want to help stop him but we can't do it by ourselves. We need you." Jeb seemed to find his voice,

"They've taken over your high school - given chips to your entire high school. All the students are walking time bombs unless the computer is removed from Itex." I exhaled slowly, trying to push my anger at Jeb to the back of my mind.

Fine, I'll save the world, then I'll rearrange his face.

I glared at him,

"So you want me to go back to the highschool, break into the school and retrieve the computer?" Jeb nodded. I kicked at the floor, wondering how to proceed, but Angel stepped forwards. I watched as she walked over to Ari, putting her tiny hand in his and tugging slightly. Ari crouched down to her level, ducking his head like he didn't want to look her in the eye, but Angel reached forwards with her other hand and ruffled his hair. She drew back her hand, sticking out her tongue, clearly not familiar with hair gel. She glared at Ari,

"You really smell," she said, pouting at Ari then looking around at me with those big blue bambi eyes, "can they take a bath Max?" I grimaced, looking back to Jeb,

"If you're going to stay here you're going to need to take off that thing," I gestured at Jeb's lab coat, "the kids aren't going feel at all comfortable with Erasers around, and having a white coat isn't going to help...you all need to wash so you don't freak the kids out with the smell of the school too..."

I looked over at the woman, Julia, still smiling in her sleep as she lay on the floor, "Ari and I can take your wife up to the medical bay to get her a bed until she wakes up. Jeb, you're going to give Rob all the info you've got on Itex. All the Erasers can stay in this room until we let the kids know what's going on." Jeb nodded, still looking grim as Ari let go of Angel's hand and stood up, walking over to his Mother and picking her up again. I beckoned for him to follow and grimaced at Dr M who turned tail and led us both up to the medical wing...

* * *

Ari followed me doggedly up the stairs, and I wasn't entirely sure how to react around him.

I'd looked after the guy most of my life, broken lots of bones in the process of trying to find him again, only to find out I was too late and he was only too happy to beat the ever loving crap out of me. But now all that anger, that cocky attitude, it'd all broken like a one way mirror glass, and he seemed nervous again - all big blue eyes and hunched shoulders as he followed a few paces behind me.

Luckily we didn't see any kids on the way to the medical bay, I think it would've freaked them out to see Dr M, me, and a sappy Eraser carrying an unconscious, unknown woman. When we reached the medical bay I led Ari over to a spare bed and he lay his mother on the sheets carefully, standing up straight and chewing his bottom lip as I slipped the monitor clip onto her finger. Iswitched on the machine, and it beeped merrily with Julia's heartbeat as Dr M began taking her bloodpressure.

Once she'd left Ari slumped down in the bedside chair, fiddling as he murmered,

"He did the best he could for us Max." I stood there, not really sure how I should respond.

"...I...don't know how much I believe that." Ari looked up at me, that hard look back in his eyes through they were still watery,

"I know why you punched him. I know what it looks like. But he really didn't have any choice in it, at all. I didn't even know he was my Dad until a few months ago, you were always the closest thing I had to family...Dad never spent time with me, he was always chasing you...Hagen made me blame you for everything bad that happened, and I-" Ari didn't finish his sentence and I clenched my jaw,

"Yeah, I got that impression when you were ripping me apart down town in all that rain." Ari's shoulders sunk, and he started crying. He always was a cry baby, but it now looked odd considering how huge he was.

"I- I'm sorry Max, they...Dr Hagen was the only 'nice' one in there, and…well you know what they're like. He told me you'd saved everyone else, and if you weren't going to help me he would…and I got kept in a room by myself - I didn't see Star or Rachet or anyone and I couldn't help believing it once he'd messed with my chip too...I can hardly remember anything that happened when you were there..." Though it didn't reach my eyes, I smiled sympathetically. The old feeling of bravado rose in my throat and something in me broke as I saw the quivering mess of a man sitting in the chair. I crouched down in front of him so that I was looking up at him, putting a hand on his knee,

"Ari, it's not your fault, it was just Itex…it's always Itex…" Ari wiped the back of his hand across his face and looked down at me, bottom lip quivering,

"I really missed you…" I smiled,

"I'm sorry you had to miss me, I did try and get you out…I'm just sorry it wasn't sooner."

"Can I have a hug?" He asked in a sodden voice. I stood up, pulling his head into my stomach and rubbing his back. Ari clung to my waist, the material growing uncomfortably damp as he began bawling into my shirt. I stood there for a few moments, trying to let him cry it out and stroking gently through his hair - it was much much thinner then it used to be with all the dye he'd used for highschool.

"You've got to stop bleaching your hair" I said, ruffling the gelled blonde spikes, "Ella told me it ruins the condition of it."

"Since when did you care about how you looked...?" Ari choaked out. I chuckled slightly, my face falling as Ari said sulkily, "The Institute made me change the colour - so you wouldn't recognise me at school…"

"You have one heck of a game face y'know," I said, trying ot sound encouraging, "didn't think someone so little could look so baddass."

"Learned from the best." he muttered, "And I'm not little. Dad said Hagen made me age slower to see if he could mess with regeneration - I was always technically older then you..." I smirked, shaking my head,

"Nah, you'll always be my baby brother. I mean literally now." Ari drew back, fiddling with the ends of my feathers like he used to,

"Well, my Mum's not your Mum, but your Mum looks pretty - you have the same shaped face." My stomach lurched,

"You've met my Mum?" Ari frowned up at me,

"So have you - she led us up here..." I stared at him,

"Dr M?" Ari shrugged,

"Dad said that Mum hacked the program so you'd and Iggy could land in your parent's back garden." I stared at Ari, my brain reeling. There was the clattering of a trolley from behind us and I turned to see Dr M wheeling a table of drips over to us, smiling at Ari but frowning at my bewildered expression. She pulled on a pair of gloves as she reached us, asking,

"Max honey, you alright?"

My brain was on standby - I'd dreamt of meeting my mother, and here she was, standing there smiling nervously and utterly clueless. Ari was right, I did have the same shape of her face, same shaped eyes, the same wave in my hair. I'd made those connections before, but I'd never indulged myself with those kinds of dreams whilst the kids lives were on the line.

Half unaware of what I was doing as I threw myself at her in a hug, my wings drawing around her back to pull her as close as possible. Dr M pulled one of my wings down and I heard some whispered conversation between her and Ari. I didn't really register any words that passed between them but suddenly she was hugging me back just as tightly.

When I drew back she had tears in her eyes,

"I can't…I can't believe you're…" she looked over my head, suddenly sidetracked by a random thought, "Oh I'm going to kill Jeb…no I'm going to hug him because you're here, then I'm going to kill him for putting you through Itex." I grimaced, glancing at Ari's wounded expression upon hearing the comments about his Father. As always, the look of a little mutant in distress went straight to my head and, truthful or not, I said slowly,

"He was doing what he could to save his family...if it was Ella, I'd want you to do the same for her." Dr M pulled me into a hug again,

"Oh if you weren't my daughter I'd adopt you." I smiled, folding my wings behind my back as I spotted the table of drip bags,

"Not that I don't like all this hugging, but doesn't Ari's Mum need those?" Dr M drew back suddenly, patting my shoulder and nodding haphazerdly,

"Right, right, yes, of course, sorry Ari...let's hook these up..."

* * *

Jeb came a few minutes after Mum had finished examining his wife, his hair still wet from his shower and dripping onto the clothes he'd borrowed from Rob. Neither Mum nor Jeb could work out when or if Julia would ever wake up, but apart from being comatose there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her.

I probably wouldn't get used to calling Dr M 'Mum' for a while, and Jeb had to earn his title (as Dr M made perfectly clear after having a short conversation about the sudden addition to her bloodline). Jeb apologised again and again and again, and it was starting to make my heart seize up. I wanted to believe he was good, but I couldn't bring myself to break old habits and emotional barriers. Using the excuse to show Ari around the ship I left the medical bay, Dr- Mum still harping on about Jeb's responsibilities.

I took Ari to the showers, fetching some of Iggy's clothes for him, and though the were very tight they fit better than Rob's would. After that I took him with me to check on the rest of the kids, telling him about how I'd gotten them out while searching for him. He smiled at this, telling me that he'd been in countless meetings where Hagen got increasingly angry about how I'd escape every time. Just as we'd thought, the kids were meant to be a trap for me, but using the skills his wife had taught him, Jeb hacked the lockdown system to give me an escape route.

No wonder Hagen hated me, he had to spawn umpteen kids to try and catch one skinny teenager and kept loosing them all in the process - and mutant maintenance costs don't come cheap, even when they starve us.

When we came out onto one of the other playrooms, Ari and I stood at the top of the stairs on the landing. I saw that the Erasers were actually playing with the kids, instead of staying in the room like I'd told them too. As they were all playing nicely and all the kids seemed happy, I had no doubt Angel was behind it all - she usually had a knack for making the kids feel safe, even when they were just out of Itex. Still, it was odd watching the huge muscular men sipping from little plastic teacups and sitting on tiny stools, watching as a few of their buddies played tag with the older mutants.

"You saved all these kids?" Ari asked, looking down at everyone. I shrugged,

"Well I was looking for my baby brother but I couldn't just leave them there." I lent forwards on the railing, frowning, "I can't believe I didn't check the high school…I knew something was familiar about the halls and stuff. Who the hell hides a evil lab under a high school?!" Ari shrugged,

"Hell above and below ground." I snorted coldly, waving at Angel as she spotted us. Wren was sat beside her as usual, watching her draw, but as Angel dropped her crayon she looked up. Wren gawked at us, Ari gawking back, muttering "that's not...?" I smiled,

"Oh yes it is." Ari looked at me incredulously then bounded down the steps, Wren getting to her feet as Ari jogged over. I saw a quiet exchange of conversation before they both hugged, Ari swinging her around with joy.

"Everyone's looking pretty happy," said a voice in my ear. I jumped feet, glaring around at Fang,

"Will you please make some noise when you move?!" Fang smirked,

"Maybe you should learn to listen better?" I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the railing to scowl at him as he said, "Rob's got a battle plan drawn up to take on you know who, you should come take a look..."

* * *

The battle plan turned out to be less of a plan and more of Rob stating his intention to storm the castle.

With Nudge's expert hacking of Dylan's torso, and Jeb's help, we'd gotten ahold of blueprints of the school. Jeb had taken Rob through the new range of Erasers gaurding Itex - what he called 'Fly Boys'. Weak point, bottom of the spine, strong point, just about everywhere else.

Jeb said he could turn off the alarm system and, once I got through the new chrome plated hell hounds he could hack the doors open for me. We'd attack tommrow with the element of surprise, tasers, the Spanish Inquisition, the whole works.

When Fang and I finally left the board room the kids were running past us in the hallways, cutting their curfew a little fine. When I entered the small bedroom Iggy, Ella and I shared, I found none of them there, but the door never closed behind me. I looked around to see Fang standing in the doorway, still shirtless and shifting awkwardly.

"D'you know where I'm meant to be sleeping?" He asked, "I've only slept in that conservatory or in the medical wing so far..." I raised my eyebrows,

"Did Rob not give you a place?" Fang shook his head. I smiled, "Well Iggy and Ella are usually in here but they won't mind." Fang closed the door behind him as I took my jacket off, throwing it on the dresser as I got into bed. I was going to leave the light on till he'd settled down but neglected to turn it off when I saw him lie down on his stomach, on the floor.

"What are you doing?" I asked, completely confused.

"Trying to sleep." Fang said, not opening his eyes. I stared at him,

"There's two beds right there!" Fang frowned,

"Which Iggy and Ella sleep in." I glared at him,

"Fang you died yesterday, you're not sleeping on the floor!"

"I'm not gonna make you give up your bed for me, you're still healing up from all that fighting" he said stubbornly.

"Who says I wasn't gonna sleep here too!?" I countered, my face going tomato red at realising what I'd just said. It was gonna be tight with the both of us, wings and all, on a single bed. Oh and he'll probably hear my heart racing with his new super bird hearing.

I'm dead.

Fang on the other hand, as cooly as ever stood up, waiting for me to move over. I shucked the covers down to my waist, pushing myself over to the wall, wings pressed against the cold surface as Fang lay down beside me.

He still lay on his stomach, one wing drooping onto the floor, the other hovering above me as if not wanting to overstep too many boundries. I gently guided it down to rest over my stomach, knowing he couldn't sleep with it up in the air. He lay his head down on the pillow, turned to face me as he closed his eyes, murmering,

"Night."

I saw the corner of his mouth pulled slightly upward in a Fang smile. His face was inches from mine, and I took the chance of his sleeping to glance over his features, taking in the long eyelashes and the hair falling in his eyes, the freckle on his lip.

It was nice. Fang lying peacefully next to me, being safe, Fang's messy hair falling onto the pillow, his eyes opening as he felt my gaze. I felt myself go a deeper shade of scarlet at being caught staring, and watching him raise a curious eyebrow I improvised an excuse, leaning up on one elbow and looking down at his wings, asking slowly,

"Do they still hurt?" I asked slowly.

"Not as much as they did," he said grimacing, pushing himself up to lean on his forearms, ruffling his feathers a little. I lay back down on the pillow, looking up at him,

"Ya think you're gonna be able to handle being a bird kid?" Fang snorted silently,

"Can't be that difficult." I grinned at him, scoffing,

"Really? I'd like to see you say that when you learn to fly..." Fang shot me a cocky look,

"It'll be easy." I grinned at him, imagining all the flailing and crash landings, and asking patronisingly,

"Really?"

"Really!" He replied confidently, "I bet you one of Dr M's cookies I get it first try..."

"Game on Mr wise-" but the end of my sentence was muffled as Fang's lips pressed down on mine. Slowly I raised my hands to his chest, knowing I should push him away but not able to bring myself to - not with the hurt that would undoubtly arrive tommrow.

So, just this once, I closed my eyes and gave in. My hands wound themselves into his hair, gently pulling him closer to show my enthusiasm as Fang's hand cupped my face, thumb smoothing over my cheek.

I found myself smiling as he broke the kiss, even more so as I looked up to see a grin on Fang's face.

I left the light on for Iggy and Ella, Fang letting him fall forwards to lie on his stomach again, his hand raised above my waist as if asking if he could hold me there. I turned onto my side, lifting my leg over his and bringing his hand around to lie at the base of my wing joints. I felt his finger tracing circles into the skin between my wings, and I sighed contentedly, weaving my fingers into his hair and closing my eyes.

Maybe tommorow, once Itex was finished, once there was no danger stopping me, I might just give this dating thing a try...

* * *

**AND ITS NOW TIME FOR YOUR CHAPTERLY DOSE OF A LITTLE USELESS, MILDLY INTRIGUING FACT:  
**

**Male kangeroos flex their biceps to impress females...**

**Fly on,**  
**M**


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